The slow pace of progress of work on re-laying the Anna Nagar Main Road, an arterial road for mofussil buses and other road users in the city, has been causing much hardship to motorists in general and local residents in particular.
While the Tiruchi Corporation had sanctioned the re-laying of the road at a cost of about Rs.50 lakh several months back, the work began only about a couple of months ago. Ever since the work began, one carriage way of the road has been dug up for over a foot in depth and traffic has been diverted on other side.
Though the re-laying work has been taken up only on a short stretch between Ukkarakaliamman Temple and the Language Martyrs memorial junction, it has been progressing at a languid pace.
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Corporation sources attributed the slow pace of work to the lime treatment that is being provided to the sub-soil of the road as it is prone to frequent damage due to the clay soil conditions. “We are providing a layer of powdered limestone prior to the laying of water bound macadam so as to make road stronger and durable,” a senior Corporation official told
However, local residents are sore that the road is one of the most neglected ones in the city even though all mofussil buses entering the city are passing through it. “The road had taken a severe beating in the 2010 monsoon and ever since the Corporation has not repaired the stretch properly, though the stretch near the Uzhavar Sandhai has been re-laid,” observed Gowri, a local resident.
“We go through a harrowing time in negotiating the road as traffic has been diverted on a single carriage way. With mofussil buses speeding down with blaring horns, two wheeler riders face a test of nerves every day,” she adds. Conceding that the work has been progressing at a slow pace, the Corporation official assured that steps are being taken to expedite the work and complete it within the next two months. Meanwhile, some of the civic activists in the city feel that the delay in appointing a full-time Commissioner to the Corporation is having a telling impact on development works. It has been two months since the former Corporation Commissioner K.Veera Raghava Rao was transferred. K.R.Selvaraj, Regional Director of Municipal Administration, Thanjavur, who has been holding additional charge as Commissioner of the Corporation, has a vast jurisdictional area.
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“It is imperative that the government appoints a full-time Commissioner to the Corporation immediately as the city development works needs to be given a thrust,” said M.Sekaran, president, Federation of Consumer and Service Organisations. Even a section of elected representatives of the civic body are sore over the delay in appointing a full-time Commissioner for the Corporation, which has jurisdiction over the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's Srirangam constituency.