While every other stretch in Korattur is bitumen-topped, residents of Lakshmi Mudali Third Street have been denied a good road.
Residents want to know why civic officials of Zone – 7 (Ambattur) of Chennai Corporation are indifferent towards this stretch.
Every day, hundreds of people from the neighbourhood use the sandy stretch to reach the railway station and bus terminus in Korattur as the 12-feet wide Third Street is one of the shortest routes to reach these two facilities.
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Further, the street lane also connects residents to East Avenue Road, which in turn connects to the busy CTH Road at Padi, a few hundred metres from the flyover there.
Lakshmi Mudali Third Street comes under Ward 83 of Zone – 7.
“The Third Street is an important route for many commuters as they walk down this stretch to reach the railway station. However, the stretch turns slushy and slippery even after a slight shower,” said a long-time resident, N. Narayan.
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Interestingly, the civic officials of Ward 83 have laid the other stretches including Duraiswamy Street with concrete mix. This work was carried out more than a year ago after the Chennai Metro Water finished laying pipelines for the multi-crore Underground Drainage System (UGD).
“We have made several complaints to the assistant engineer in-charge, other higher officials at Zone – 7 (Ambattur) and also to the local ward councillor. But nothing has been done,” said V. Kalavathi, a resident of Korattur.
Corporation officials cited lack of funds and manpower as reasons for the delay in laying the street.
Sourcing the raw material (concrete mix) is another problem as it is given on priority basis by higher officials at Ripon Buildings, the Chennai Corporation’s headquarters.
“We have informed our higher officials at Zone-7 about the need to re-lay the stretch. But, there has been no word from them either on the allocation of funds or availability of raw material,” said a Corporation official.