Driving or walking through the streets of Ward 97 in Ayanavaram can be difficult and frustrating — many of them are in bad condition, full of ruts and holes.
For the residents of this pocket, bad roads, combined with poor drainage and water-logging are causing problems. “In certain stretches, it is difficult for even two-wheelers to go through. During the rains, there can easily be two feet of water stagnating on some roads,” said R. Gopinathan, vice-president, Ayanavaram Exnora. He pointed to Vellalar Street and Muthamman Koil Street, both of which are damaged and troublesome to drive through.
B. Jayanthi, a resident of Chetty Street, said that this year in particular, the roads were badly damaged. “Residents apart, it is tough even for school vans to come through some of the roads. There seems to be some work or the other constantly going on, on these streets. I have to travel to shop and to drop my children to karate lessons, and I find it very difficult,” she said.
Cycling to the temple or the local shops is hard for D. Banumathi, who takes a longer route to avoid some of the bad roads.
Vijay Kumar, who runs a paint shop on Solai Main Street, said that drainage on the road was terrible. “Even with the lightest of rains, the road is water-logged. There is a cement road at the corner which is at a higher level, leading to the water flowing into the lower-level streets,” he said. Sabapathy Street, which is right next to it, is also in bad shape and constantly has sewage overflow, said R. Barani, a resident who lives on the corner of the road. “It also stinks of garbage constantly,” said another resident.
A Tasmac shop next to a ration shop and in between two schools is also a huge problem, residents say. “It is impossible for women to go there at certain times because of the crowd at the Tasmac shop,” said a resident. Ayanavaram Exnora has sent a petition for this shop to be removed, Mr. Gopinathan said.
DMK councillor V. Vasu said the roads were in bad shape at present due to the re-laying of drainage pipes. “Most of the work has been completed, only 120 m is remaining. As soon it is done, we will re-lay the damaged roads. The work order for 17 roads has already come and will be done as soon as possible,” he said. On garbage, he said residents too, needed to cooperate to keep the streets clean.
