Iyyappanthangal residents flag improper milling of roads

CHENNAI: Residents of Ashok Brindavan Nagar in Iyyappanthangal have urged local authorities to ensure proper milling of roads before laying new ones as they fearing inundation of their houses during monsoon.

Senthil Kumar, a resident-activist of the locality, accused that a contractor has started road-laying work on Third Main Road and a Cross Street connecting the main road in Ashok Brindavan Nagar without milling the old road.

“This is of serious concern for many residents as rain water influx into households in the low lying areas,” he said.

A few residents have already alerted the authorities, but milling has reportedly not started yet. “The contractor has started laying gravel stones on these cement and concrete roads. After laying the gravel layer, the work has been stalled for almost a week without providing any reason,” he said.

As per norms, the contractors should ensure proper milling of roads and Indian Road Congress (IRC) mandates milling for 40 mm before re-laying. Senthil Kumar pointed out that the Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu had given instructions to ensure milling and he had conducted several inspections in this regard. However, the contractors are violating the norms and instructions, he added.

Based on the complaint made by the residents to the Centralised Public Grievance Redress And Monitoring System, the Ministry of Panchayat Raj has forwarded the objection to the state government.

An official attached to the Iyyappanthangal panchayat assured that the concerned contractor would be directed to mill the roads before completing the works.