With cracked and crumbling walls, and plants sprouting from it, Gengu Reddy subway presents a picture of neglect. The pathway leading to the stairs of the three-decades-old subway, maintained by the Greater Chennai Corporation gets flooded. The stormwater drain on the pathway too is choked. The protruding steel beams near the median do not offer a safe commuting experience for motorists as well as pedestrians.
The subway was last renovated almost a decade ago. “The stretch above the subway is inaccessible as the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board has constructed public toilets near the ramps for the residents of the slum board tenements nearby. The plaster in many parts of the roof has worn off exposing the steel beams. Rainwater stagnates on the road making the commute a nightmare,” says S. Rajkumar, a motorist from Royapettah.
CHENNAI, 10/10/2019: For Downtown: Damaged Gangu Reddy Subway on Thursday. Photo: R. Ragu / The Hindu
At night, the subway becomes a safe den for miscreants, complain motorists. This stretch hardly has any police presence, including patrolling, and the subway also lacks surveillance.
Lack of illumination adds to the safety threat. “Sodium vapour lights were installed on both sides of the subway but they hardly burn. Pedestrians often have to rely on torchlights or the mobile phone lights while passing through the subway at night,” adds S. Rajkumar.
A Corporation official promised to inspect the stretch and take steps to repair the subway.
