The Greater Chennai Corporation has started repairing several interior roads that had been damaged while laying pipelines and underground electricity cables in Velachery. More than 100 roads are proposed to be covered before the Assembly election.
The residents at Velachery had been facing hardship as the utility agencies had dug up several roads. Although the model code of conduct is in force, the civic body has taken up roadwork since Monday at Bala Murugan Nagar, Annai Indira Nagar, Bethel Avenue and Sarathy Nagar 5th Street.
A senior official of the Corporation in the Adyar zone said the roadwork, which had been progressing slowly, was being speeded up to be completed by April-end.
Pipeline work
Several streets at Velachery coming under Divisions 178 and 179 had been dug up by the utility agencies.
The Chennai Metropolitcan Water Supply and Sewage Board (CMWSSB) had taken up work in streets which had been without piped water supply and underground drainage connection. While the Corporation officials said the CMWSSB had completed its work, the shifting of overhead power cables was in progress. M. Arumugam of Bethel Avenue said the water board dug up several streets for installing water and sewer pipelines and this had inconvenienced hundreds of residents, particularly during the northeast monsoon with water stagnating for more than a feet at several places.
He wanted the civic body to complete the roadwork at the earliest.
A senior Corporation official of the Adyar zone said 114 roads, totalling 20 km of length, were proposed to be repaired at a cost of ₹4.60 crore, for which contractors had been finalised.
The civic official said streets coming in the peripheral areas of Velachery like Ram Nagar, Vijayanagar, Bethel Avenue, VGP Selva Nagar, Srinivasa Nagar, Bhuvaneswari Nagar, and the main localities of Dhandeeswaram Nagar, Tansi Nagar, Jaganathapuram, Rajalakshmi Nagar and Orandiamman Koil Street are proposed to be relaid.
