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.