Delayed road relaying puts Pallavaram commuters at risk

CHENNAI: The Pallavaram cantonment road has not been relaid in over two years. The damaged road is posing danger to motorists even in the summer season.

Commuters say that no one complained about the issues as there are only a few residents located there.

“The issue was not brought to the concerned authorities attention. I remember the road was relaid in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The road got damaged during the 2021 winter season and it was not relaid till now,” said a Pallavaram resident K Karthik, who uses the road regularly to reach his office at Chrompet.

S Suryakanth, an auto driver, who also uses the road to drop off his customer every day at the Pallavaram bus stop, said it is difficult to ride the vehicle during monsoon, especially at night.

“Even in the daytime, the vehicles including four wheelers use only one side of the road to avoid the damaged area,” he said adding, “This leads to traffic jams at the peak hour regularly.”

A senior official from Tambaram municipality said that only a few complaints were received so far, and the concerned authorities temporarily rectified the damage by filling hard sand and stone in the damaged area. “However, the damage will be rectified soon,” he promised.

Another municipal official said that funds have already been allocated to rectify not only that road and a few streets near that. A cycle stand owner, who looks after the parked two-wheelers in his shop, claimed that more than 200 two-wheelers will have to use the road to come to his shop to park their vehicle.