Six months ago, Greater Chennai Corporation started work on laying underground optic fibre cables on the Triplicane High Road from Ice House. The work has not progressed beyond 100 metres. And, the work is supposed to cover a stretch of 4 km!
When the work started, civic workers dug 3-feet-deep trenches on the concrete footpath. Debris including bitumen and concrete blocks were dumped along the roadside blocking the free movement of vehicles.
With the footpaths being dug up, pedestrians had no choice but to walk on the carriageway, risking their lives.
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“The closed trench on the footpath was not re-laid properly to allow us to walk safely. Children and senior citizens often get hurt while walking on the uneven portion of the stretch,” says S. Raghavan, a resident of Ice House.
Despite being a 60-feet-wide stretch, Triplicane High Road, which connects Peter’s Road with Wallajah Road, is narrow mainly due to the extension of commercial establishments as well as parking of vehicles. The slow pace of the cable-laying work has resulted in traffic congestion. The overflowing bins along the stretch add to the traffic problem.
Meanwhile, Corporation officials attribute the delay to the narrow stretch and continuous movement of vehicles. “Only a small portion of the ground can be dug up at a time because sand cannot be dumped all over the road as it is already narrow. Besides, the stretch also has many old buildings, including some from the British era. We have to ensure there is no damage to the buildings while digging the trenches,” said an official.
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The official said the ongoing work was part of the civic body’s efforts to replace overhead cables with a network of underground cables. The project was initiated after the overhead cables kept snapping after coming in contact with heavy vehicles (lorries and buses) and disrupted public utility services such as telephone and Internet. “We will complete the work at the earliest and relay the footpath soon,” said a Corporation official.