Commuting has become a nightmare for those who travel through the Guindy Industrial Estate, one of the oldest industrial estates in the country.
One can find countless potholes on roads leading to the estate. “It’s like a roller coaster ride every day,” said an employee of an automobile firm inside the estate. “At the junction near Kochar Towers and Evolve Automotive, there are many potholes on the road, and people could skid and fall,” he said.
“The road’s condition worsens after a spell of rain. Sometimes, the companies buy mud and stones with their own funds and fill the potholes which are in front of their premises,” a pushcart vendor said.
The main and interior roads need urgent attention. Many of the roads are uneven.
“Each year the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation Limited (SIDCO) collects maintenance fee from us but they don’t do much to fix the problems within the estate. When I first came here the roads were good, there was greenery but now even if it rains for half an hour the roads becomes a terrible mess,” said the owner of an industrial unit.
K.V. Kanakambaram, president of The Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association, said issues regarding poor infrastructure within the industrial estate had been raised in person and in writing many times but nothing had happened till date. “If you go around the estate you will see illegal parking, dangling wires and unauthorised petty shops. No one wants to maintain one of the most important industrial estates in the city,” he said.
Mr. Kanakambaram also said Corporation authorities were collecting a huge amount of property tax from unit holders and SIDCO was also collecting maintenance charges but both had not done their work properly.
