The Greater Chennai Corporation is dragging its feet on the provision of LED street lamps for a distance of around 100 metres between the Tirumangalam junction and the intersection of 13th Main Road and the Second Avenue Main Road in Anna Nagar. It cites lack of funds for the delay.
Since the one-km-long Second Avenue Main Road was converted into a two-way traffic system on 2 February this year by the City Traffic Police, this stretch alone has not been provided with street lamps. On Second Avenue Main Road, which links Tirumangalam junction and the Anna roundtana, a one-way traffic system was introduced in December 2011 to facilitate Metro Rail work in the neighbourhood.
After much of the Metro Rail work, including construction of an underground railway station in the locality, was completed, two-way traffic system was reintroduced in Second Avenue Main Road, as also in other key stretches in the neighbourhood, which include Third Avenue Road, Fourth Avenue Main Road, 13th, 15th and 18th Main Road from February 2 this year.
Though these roads were widened and re-laid with bitumen by Chennai Metro Rail, other basic facilities which include working traffic signals, reflectors, speed breakers with zebra markings, bus shelters, signboards and LED streets lamps were not put in place when the two-way traffic system was re-introduced.
As a result, more traffic policemen pressed into service to regulate traffic in the neighbourhood.
“Many motorists and residents of the neighbourhood use the 13th Main Road junction, and lack of street lamps puts them at risk for accidents, especially at night,” says K. Prakash, a resident of Anna Nagar.
The Second Avenue Main Road is now a widened stretch with a raised concrete median, a tiled footpath, bus stops with shelters and parking lanes.
A few months ago, all sodium vapour street lamps on the stretch were removed to hage them replaced with LED lamps by the civic officials of Zone – 8 (Anna Nagar) of the Greater Chennai Corporation.
While new lamps were installed between Anna Nagar roundtana and 13th Main Road junction, the stretch between Tirumangalam Junction and the 13th Main Road were left unattended due to lack of funds.
Sadly, the sodium vapour street lamps between these two points (Tirumangalam and 13th Main Road) were removed when the exercise of replacing sodium vapour lights with LED lights began a few months. As a result, this stretch became dark and dangerous.
“We have asked the higher officials at Ripon Buildings to allocate adequate funds for completion of lighting work on the stretch. We are waiting for their nod,” says a Corporation official.
