Urban News

The Hindu         03.09.2010

Rs. 2.63 crore sought for re-laying roads

Special Correspondent

THURAIYUR: The Thuraiyur Municipality has sent a proposal to the Department of Municipal Administration and Water Supply, seeking an outlay of Rs. 2.63 crore for re-laying of roads which had been in a bad condition for the past several years.

With a cumulative length of 16 km, a total of 103 roads in the town will be re-laid shortly after the state government released funds, the Chairperson of the Municipality Boopathy Chelladurai said. While roads to a cumulative length of 12 km would be developed using bitumen, the balance 4 km would be upgraded into concrete roads.

The Municipality, at its meeting held here recently, adopted a resolution identifying the roads to be developed under the ‘Special Road Programme' for 2010-11.

The work will be executed in 24 packages, she said.

On the selection of roads, the Chairperson said that the Municipal council adhered to the guidelines set by the state government in identifying the works. Roads which had borne the brunt of natural calamity like floods and roads which had not been maintained for the past five years got priority, she said.

The Deccan Chronicle  31.08.2010

Chennai, 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.