Citizen Connect: Unattended road cuts irk commuters at Choolaimedu

“I shifted to Choolaimedu nearly a year ago. The streets have been in a damaged condition for close to a year. Apart from potholes, there are several unattended road cuts. How can the local civic engineers remain indifferent as they are also travelling on the same streets?” M Vishnupriya, a resident of Sriramapuram in Choolaimedu said.

When DT Next visited Choolaimedu, roads such as Vanniyar Street, Bajanai Koil Street, Abdullah Street, Kangaiamman Koil Street and others were completely damaged by the road cuts and were in unmotorable condition.

“I use Bajanai Koil Street and Vanniyar Street every day to commute to my office. Due to the road cuts, I have back pain now. The Chennai Corporation should take necessary actions to re-lay all the roads in the locality,” B Murali, a rider said.

Some residents pointed out that even though the road cuts were made by the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board to provide sewage connections, Chennai Corporation should repair the damages.

“In addition to the connection charges, we pay for the damages caused to the road to Metrowater. With that money, Chennai Corporation should repair the damages. However, they leave the road cuts unattended and we do not know what the civic body does with the money we pay,” a resident of Bajanai Koil Street, on condition of anonymity, said.

He added that repeated complaints to civic officials went unanswered. “If Chennai Corporation intends to improve the quality of life in the city, it should also concentrate on interior roads and small streets in residential areas like Choolaimedu, apart from taking care of bus routes.”

When contacted, a Chennai Corporation official said that the civic body has started to lay Choolaimedu High Road that was damaged by frequent digging by service departments. “Usually road cuts will be repaired by floating tenders. As we could not float separate tenders for every road cut, tenders are being floated in a packaged manner. We will inform the higher official about the issue and take action to repair road cuts,” he assured.