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Massive digging operation on roads troubles city residents

Thursday, 24 September 2009 04:24 administrator
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The Hindu 24.09.2009

Massive digging operation on roads troubles city residents

Karthik Madhavan

Sources in the Corporation say mobile telephony companies are engaged in digging

– PHOTO: M. GOVARTHAN

Poor planning?: Almost all major roads in the city have either been dug or are being dug, which is causing road users a lot of problems.

ERODE: Roads in the city can broadly be divided in to two categories: dug and waiting to be dug.

This is because the digging operation is under way on a massive scale on almost all roads that warrant a mention in the 45-ward city.

Main roads, other roads that serve as bus routes, streets and by-lanes - not one is spared. Such is the scale of digging that it is impossible to move from one point to another in the city without riding or driving on a road that has not been dug or is under digging.

The digging, though necessary, hinders traffic flow on roads or streets that are too narrow to hold the ever-increasing traffic.

Take for example the Municipal Colony road that serves as the entry and exit to many housing colonies in the west of the city and also to residents of Manickampalayam.

The road, which sees heavy movement of two-wheelers, three-wheel and four-wheel goods carriers and mini buses, is undergoing digging.

One portion of the work is over and at the very stretch, the dug up earth has been too loosely placed to facilitate traffic. The result: vehicles, unable to use the dug side of road, jostle for space with vehicles coming from the opposite direction.

At Ganapathipuram, near the District Registrars office, off Cauvery Road, police have placed a barricade to divert vehicles proceeding towards Cauvery Road.

On the road that is supposed to take the diverted traffic, digging is going on. With very little space to manoeuvre, vehicle users are left wondering which way to proceed.

At Kalyana Sundaram Nagar, Chidambaram Colony, Raja Kadu, Majid Street, Agraharam Street the story is no different in that the same problem of narrow roads getting narrower persists everywhere.

This is because organisations engaged in digging do not close the pits well enough to facilitate traffic.

Sources in the Erode Municipal Corporation say mobile telephony companies Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Airtel, Aircel and Idea are engaged in digging operations.

BSNL has sought permission to dig 898 m, Airtel 350 m, Idea 1,768 m and Aircel 3,401 m. This is in addition to the civic body digging roads for laying water pipes. The sources say the Corporation is digging close to 23 km.

Asked about the massive digging operations, Corporation Commissioner B. Balachandran says the civic body has given digging permission at one go because all the works will get over at more or less the same time to facilitate easy flow of traffic across the city.

He adds that it has obtained 25 per cent of the digging cost as deposit from the telephone companies to ensure that they close the pits to facilitate traffic.

“If they do a shoddy work, they will have to forfeit the deposit,” he warns.

Last Updated on Thursday, 24 September 2009 04:26
 

Decision on Chennai Corporation proposal soon

Thursday, 24 September 2009 04:19 administrator
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The Hindu 24.09.2009

Decision on Chennai Corporation proposal soon

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: A decision on whether Chennai will remain a single Corporation with extended areas that fall under the Chennai Metropolitan Area or it will be trifurcated is to be taken shortly with Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi making queries on the one Corporation proposal at a presentation here on Wednesday.

Officials made a presentation on the two proposals the committee that examined the issue had considered – whether to bring into the purview of the current Chennai Corporation areas up to Tambaram in the south and Avadi in the north-west consonant with the Chennai planning agency’s boundaries for the Metropolitan Area or to carve out separate Corporations and bringing Ambattur municipality under the ambit of Chennai Corporation in the event of forming two more Corporations.

As Chennai is bursting at the seams and nearby municipalities are finding it difficult to cope with the explosive migratory populations that have been flocking to the suburbs, the government initially thought of creating two Corporations in the suburbs, one headquartered at Avadi and another at Tambaram. But the other proposal has been gaining ground of late. This is because it was pointed out that the Chennai Corporation was not even half the size of the metropolitan cities in the country such as New Delhi and Mumbai and hence, there was scope for growth of the present Corporation itself.

The issue of incremental growth of the city also came in for discussion. The examples citied were the annexation of parts of Mogappair and Kolathur to the Chennai Corporation recently as opposed to a drastic redrawing of boundaries that could lead to some confusion for residents.

Last Updated on Thursday, 24 September 2009 04:20
 

Improvement work on city drains delayed

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 04:06 administrator
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The Hindu 23.09.2009

Improvement work on city drains delayed

K. Lakshmi and Deepa H. Ramakrishnan

PWD yet to get administrative sanction from government

— Photo: R. RAGU

New look soon: One of the city’s waterways that await improvement.

CHENNAI: The improvement work on the city’s drains has been delayed as the Public Works Department (PWD) is yet to get administrative sanction from the State government. Its collaborator, the Chennai Corporation, however, has called for tenders.

Officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD) wing of the PWD said the deadline for the execution of the project had been pushed to early next year as the State government earlier suggested changes in the detailed project report submitted by the department.

The Government Order sanctioning the project is likely to be received in a few days and the tenders would be floated soon, they said. The project would be taken up along with the Corporation using Central government assistance under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Another reason cited for the delay was the problems in mobilisation of the loan component of the project cost. While the Central and State governments would provide 50 per cent of the cost as grant, the PWD would have to chip in for the remaining 50 per cent along with the civic body, officials said.

Under the project, being taken up at an estimated cost of Rs.1,447.91 crore, the PWD’s share is nearly Rs.640 crore for improvement works of macro-canals.

Conceived with the aim of preventing flooding in the Chennai Metropolitan area, the project seeks to integrate stormwater drains with waterways. The work would be taken up after dividing the city into north, central, east and south basins. There will be improvement in the drainage of flood-prone areas such as Velachery, Kolathur, Vyasarpadi, T.Nagar and Kodungaiyur. The project would be completed in three years.

There was a mandatory halt in the project during the Lok Sabha elections. Post elections, the Chennai Corporation floated tenders for seven of the total 12 packages to construct and strengthen stormwater drains under the JNNURM at an estimated cost of Rs.812.15 crore.

According to a senior official of the Corporation, the bids for three more packages would be called in a week’s time. The bids would be opened in October and work orders issued thereafter. During the pre-bid meetings held for various packages, the civic body received good response from firms.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 23 September 2009 04:12
 
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