Stormwater drain work and continuous digging by mobile service providers seem to be taking a toll on the interior roads, leaving them riddled with potholes and uneven surfaces. At Sathyadev Avenue at MRC Nagar in Raja Annamalaipuram, the Greater Chennai Corporation has left many portions of the road incomplete even though milling has been done.
The residents have been waiting for the road to be laid for more than two months but their patience is wearing out. “The road was dug up to widen the existing stormwater drains on the residents request and the work was completed two months ago. Though the civic body started milling the road almost immediately after the SWD work, it has not been relaid and the surface is uneven on many sections of the road,” says a resident who does not want to be named.
He also expressed concern over telecom operators digging newly-laid roads to lay underground cables and leaving them in a mess. “Workers from a private telecom company dug up a portion of the road after it was relaid. The cable-laying work is often carried out without the permission of the Corporation and despite repeated complaints, the civic body doesn’t seem to be taking any action against the companies,” he adds.
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Being a school and a hospital zone, the residents’ pleas to have speed-breakers and zebra-crossing on the road have also been ignored. The stretch also lacks adequate illumination as the streetlights have not been functional for a while.
“There are no street signs that caution motorists to drive slow near the school and hospital. The wide road has become an unauthorised parking lot; vans are parked here all through the day and night, and complaints to the local police have warranted no action,” he says.