The Deccan Chronicle 31.08.2010
Drainage network flops in South Chennai areasChennai, Aug. 30: Poor road planning and weak underground drains have led to roads caving in at several places in the city posing danger to motorists and pedestrians alike.
The situation is acute in the posh areas of south Chennai particularly in Raja Annamalaipuram, Mandaveli, Mylapore, T. Nagar and Kodambakkam.
The drainage network laid down as part of the Chennai City River Conservation Project has turned out to be a failure.
Metro water engineers and urban planners admit that the river conservation project has failed to drain away excess sewage from the city sewers. As a ripple effect of that, roads have begun to cave in at several places, admits a senior corporation engineer.
Says a private contractor Lakshmi Narayanan, “Relaying of roads in St Mary’s Road, Sringeri Mutt Road, Mandaveli High Road and Senni Ammam Street in T Nagar has always been a difficult task as the roads in these localities do not have a flat surface. Within a few weeks after the repair, the roads cave in, bringing disrepute to the private contractors who relay the roads in these stretches.”
“The craters seems to be widening and the pavements are developing cracks as a result. The public is put through severe hardships,” says N. Arumugham, an auto driver at R.A. Puram.
Admitting that the problem is a setback to the city corporation Mayor M. Subramanian said that the issue would be taken up with metro water officials.
“We are also considering concreting of cement roads in these areas. Action will be taken soon to improve road conditions”, the mayor said.
