After more than a year, the new LED lights on the first, second and third streets at GNG Colony in Varadharajapuram (behind the Canara Bank bus stop and near the railway station in Ambattur) are working. The officials at the zonal office of the Chennai Corporation finally got the nod to “let them shine”.
The civic body was earlier waiting for the Mayor’s date to organise its inauguration.
“The step taken by the Corporation to operate the new street lights is a welcome measure because, apart from the residents in the neighbourhood, a large number of women workers from the industrial units use the street lanes to reach the railway station,” said T. Gunaseelan, a long-time resident of the area.
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Every day, hundreds of residents use the street lanes to reach the Chennai-Tiruvallur High (CTH) Road to board buses at the nearby Canara Bank bus stop.
Further, the street lanes make an easy route for thousands of workers, especially women, who work in a cluster of industrial units in Ambattur. The railway station is located behind Varadharajapuram and is just a short walk away.
Also, many commuters board buses on the CTH Road to reach the industrial units taking these street lanes. However, except for Bazaar Road, all the street lanes look deserted after sunset.
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After repeated requests from the residents and from the GNG Colony Residents Welfare Association, the Corporation zonal officials led by its elected chairman, Joseph Samuel, in Ambattur, allocated funds to replace the old and rusted sodium lamps with modern LED lights within the zonal limits.
Interestingly, except for the GNG Colony, all the areas where the new lights have been installed are functioning.
In fact, new street lights in Teachers’ Colony, where the residence of the zonal chairman is located, are working while GNG Colony, just a stone’s throw away, remained dark after sunset.