Residents of an area off Thiruvallur Salai in Mogappair East have never had a proper mailing address. When I asked them for an address, they mentioned the landmark - Velammal School - to help me identify their street. The street does not have a name.
These residents have been fighting a battle with the civic officials of Zone – VII of Chennai Corporation in Ambattur to get an official name for their street. After repeated pleas to the civic body, they took the initiative and named their street ‘Arasar’ (meaning king in Tamil) Street six months ago. Even that wasn’t recognised by the Corporation officials. Instead, civic officials claim since the street doesn’t exist in their zonal map, they cannot get the necessary approval from the higher authorities to get funds to maintain the stretch and to install street lights. “As our street does not have a name, we have been denied a proper mailing address for years. It becomes very difficult to explain our address to guests and delivery boys. Thankfully, the postman has been working here for years and knows the areas well, ” said V. Kamala, a resident of Mogappair East.
In 2012, the then Ambattur municipality had laid the stretch with bitumen and assured the residents that a suitable name for the street would be given by the local body soon.
The residents even wrote a letter to the civic body, thanking them for a proper road. However, things changed after the merger of the municipality with the Corporation. The officials started giving them excuses when they approached them with the demand of a street name. “ We request the civic officials to regularise the name (Arasar Street) suggested by the residents in the neighbourhood. It will give the road its identity,” said T. Suriya Prakasam, joint secretary, Breeze Apartments Welfare Association in Mogappair East.
After the merger of the Ambattur municipality with the Corporation, residents were promised by the civic officials, including assistant engineer in-charge of the ward (Ward No: 92), that a name for the street would be given soon. The residents paid frequent visits to the Commissioner of Chennai Corporation, Superintendent engineers of many wings including electrical, solid waste management (garbage collection), tax collection etc. A few local civic officials told them that it would be difficult for the civic body to suggest a name for the street as it would result in procedural delays.
Instead, they asked the residents to come up with a name for the street as it would be easy to ‘regularise’ the name. Following that, the residents too came up with the new name — ‘Arasar’ Street, but the street sill stays nameless. “We will take necessary steps to solve the problem,” said a Corporation official.
The residents have suggested ‘Arasar’ as the street name but it is yet to be recognised by the civic body.
