A combination of heritage buildings, tourist attractions and slums mark the significance of ward 120, covering Krishnampet along the Marina Beach. However, frequent accidents also mark this ward, which has which has prominent bus route roads, with many pedestrians and motorists having reportedly lost their lives in the recent years.
Residents living here say the civic body and traffic police are yet to take preventive action and compile information on such accidents, adding that inspite of the increasing encroachments along the bus route roads, over the past few years, not action has been taken.
Apart from the growing encroachments, residents of Avvai Shanmugam Salai complained that the large arch-shaped drain on the road was not desilted for the monsoon. They demanded improvement works in the Krishnampet burial ground which also falls under the ward.
Some residents also complained about poor conservancy operations at night. Officials said that the private conservancy operator in charge was asked to improve night conservancy in the area with the increasing garbage generation by commercial buildings.
Corporation officials also claimed that the proposal for the decentralised waste management in the ward has not been successful owing to inadequate cooperation by the conservancy staff. Despite a facility to compost municipal solid waste from wards 114, 115, 116, 120 and 121 being inaugurated a few months ago, it is not operating properly due of the absence of a dedicated team of conservancy staff to implement the project, sources in the civic body point out. The manure from this facility was used for the gardens along the Marina beach.
Real estate development is restricted to a few bus routes as the ward does not have low lying areas and residents of the slums along the Buckingham canal constitute constitute a chunk of its population, Chennai Corporation officials said.
MRTS from Chennai beach to Velachery offers public transit connectivity for residents. But the footpaths and cycle tracks that offer last mile connectivity are yet to be improved, residents said.
Officials said that the high population density and the unauthorised construction of buildings along the Buckingham canal has led a rise of sewage inlets that pollute the canal.
However, as a healthcare measure, mosquito nets have been distributed which have reportedly reduced the spread of vector borne diseases in the ward, the officials said.
