When it comes to roads that are maintained by municipalities in the southern suburbs, the situation leaves much to be desired.
Kamarajar Street in East Tambaram still awaits blacktopping, though the contract for the roadwork was awarded much before the monsoon. Municipal sources said contractors had cited rain as the reason for the delay. Now, it is down to shortage of blue metal and manpower.
While confirming the shortage, officials said the cost of blue metal had gone up considerably due to the rain.
R. Sumithra, a resident of Arthi Nagar, said that proper re-laying of interior roads was yet to begin. Municipal officials and road paver contractors attribute this to shortage of blue metal. The flooding of quarries and bituminous tar-mixing units located in south Chennai has forced officials to use construction debris and quarry dust. “But, this has added to the misery of motorists, who already complain about problems of pollution caused by dust from the roads,” she said.
“Already, short tenders for repair works have been called. Around 14.75 km of roads have been damaged in Pallavaram, Tambaram, Anakaputhur and Pammal municipalities, which were repaired with available stock and manpower,” said a municipal contractor from Tharapakkam.
Church Street in Pallavaram, where Chennai Metrowater carried out pipe-laying work, is yet to see blacktopping. But the road work could not be carried out due to the Model Code of Conduct, not because of shortage of blue metal, said official sources from Pallavaram.
