Imagine the plight of residents of a locality that suffers from a plethora of civic issues — bad roads, sewage overflow and mosquito menace.
Sowcarpet and Park Town, near Parry’s Corner in Broadway, are very crowded and busy business areas. But, residents of these areas also endure several civic issues including bad roads, mounds of uncleared garbage, water stagnation, traffic logjams, hawker menace and overflowing sewage.
Amit Jain, a resident of Nambuliar Street, Sowcarpet, writes in Friends of Chennai, a social initiative of The Hindu , of the several civic issues faced by them. He complained that loads on garbage are strewn on the streets of Sowcarpet which are also badly maintained. On the one hand, water-logging leads to persistent mosquito menace while on the other, residents find it hard to access reliable sources of drinking water.
He said the civic authorities have their hands full when it comes to setting right the problems. Mr. Jain also complained of the absence of vector control measures and lack of a stormwater drain network, though the Buckingham Canal is located nearby.
Mukesh Kumar Jain, a resident of Raghunayukulu Street, Park Town, complained that poor conservancy is one of the major problems faced by the residents. He said several streets and lanes like Ekambareshwarar Agraharam, Mint Street, Peddanaickenpet Street, Nainiappanaicken Street, Nainiappa Maistry Street and Edapalayam Street endure problems similar to those in Sowcarpet.
Even as residents of these two localities are increasingly frustrated with these issues, civic authorities and elected representatives blamed the lack of civic sense on the part of residents for the garbage problem.
R. Prathap Kumar, councillor of Division 54, under which part of Sowcarpet falls, said that unless the residents cooperated, the garbage problem could not be mitigated. He pointed out that Sowcarpet and Park Town have become densely populated areas with high-rise buildings but have narrow roads, making it difficult for big conservancy vehicles to remove the garbage. Moreover, the old markets in these two areas generate waste in large quantities. He said rainwater harvesting structures have been proposed on the newly-paved concrete roads to prevent water stagnation.
