Chennai: It has been a good year for the Chennai corporation so far, thanks to the Amma Canteen, a pet project of chief minister Jayalalithaa launched early this year and gradually expanded across all 200 wards of the city corporation.

Yet, the civic body has failed on the development front. Several suburbs annexed to the corporation last year are still lagging behind without quality roads, drains and streetlights. Corporation officials should also thank the rain gods for the deficit rainfall, as the roads witnessed very little waterlogging this season.

In terms of public health, the corporation claimed that the incidence of cholera, dengue and malaria were low this year and Mayor Saidai S. Duraisamy also tabled a report, but the Opposition disputed this.

Demonstrations by residents and political parties were witnessed this year in the western suburbs including Ambattur and Maduravoyal, where residents had hoped that the merger with the civic body would improve the face of their locality.

“The situation of northern suburbs like Manali, Tiruvottiyur and Madhavaram is worse as even basic works like garbage collection and provision of streetlights remain the same,” says a professor of the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University.

“When compared to last year, the main roads are motorable in North Chennai, but interior roads still have potholes,” complained M. Basha, a resident Thiruvottiyur.

The quality of roads has improved in old areas of the city; for instance, interior roads in Adyar now have reflectors and wide painted platforms.

Similarly, road name boards in steel also add to the aesthetic look of roads, opines Karate R. Thiagarajan, former deputy mayor of Chennai. However the expanded areas of Chennai are yet to get their due importance and it would be good if the corporation follows an effective wireless communication system similar to that of police, so that the city’s civic woes can be addressed in a effective manner, he adds.

Garbage has always been a problem in the city and the concept of source segregation of waste is yet to be implemented by the Chennai corporation.

Adequate dustbins are not there in areas like Kodambakkam and Mambalam which are thickly populated with large flat complexes, rues R. Govindaraj, joint general secretary of Exnora International.

Road signboards are now bright and colourful, but interior roads need to be re-laid fully after reducing height by scraping a few layers as many flats get flooded after a few spells of rain, he adds.