Saravanan was there when the busy Alagirisamy Salai in K.K. Nagar caved in a few months ago, leaving a huge crater. He was there again when Corporation officials were trying to fill it up with rubble.
Many regulars like Saravanan have been incredulously watching this important stretch being allowed to remain battered, for years.
Now, over 10 days ago, the road was re-laid. But social activists such as M.V. Ramani call the effectiveness of the effort into question. “It has already started chipping off. The contactors came and without scrapping the road and laying gravels, laid the road with bitumen. We will soon see the carter reappear,” he says.
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In 2012, Ramani filed a writ petition questioning the quality of road being laid on Alagirisamy Salai. “There was a proposal to lay a concrete road here for durability. Citing financial constraints, the civic body dropped the plan. The court ordered them to lay bitumen road complying with international standards. The order has till today not been complied with,” he adds.
There are four schools in the vicinity, including PSBB, and thousands of children and parents use the road every day. “We have to be careful while dropping our kids at school taking them by two-wheelers. Alagirisamy Salai which leads to the schools is pothole-ridden,” says Nithya, mother of a child studying in one of the schools. Ramani is planning to take the issue to court again.