Citizen Connect: Jawaharlal Nehru Salai turns high-risk zone as debris spills over roads

The volume of traffic on this important highway has increased phenomenally that even the six-lane road seems inadequate during peak hours. After crossing the Anna Nagar West depot signal, vehicles plying towards Red Hills on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai speed up in the Padi-North Korattur stretch.

The speeding vehicles cannot use the entire width of the carriageway due to encroachments, parking of vehicles and, more importantly, dumping of garbage on the stretch. Mindless dumping of thermocol, paper, plastic and construction debris find their way to the road margins.

“Added to this is the accumulation of silt along the margins that make driving conditions a nightmare for cyclists and two-wheeler riders. The arterial roads are wide enough for three heavy vehicles to ride abreast, but the dumping of waste and parking of the vehicles reduces it to two-lane. With garbage and silt eating into road space, two-wheeler riders and pedestrians are exposed to risks. Not a day passes without a minor or major accident taking place on the busy stretch,” K Shanmugham of North Korattur said.

“During the night, we find it difficult to take note of the garbage heaps and sand accumulated on the road margins. As the heavy vehicles and cars ply at high speed, two-wheelers, in particular, are pushed to the road margins. Sometimes, bikes skid on the sand accumulated and leads to accidents,” said K Sivakumar, a motorist from Senthil Nagar, Kolathur.

A fence was erected on the side of the footpath to prevent dumping a few years ago. “It was removed to construct a storm water drain along the Jawaharlal Nehru Salai. But miscreants have started the dumping right on the road margin itself,” explained Mohammed Sultan, who works at a private company in Padi.

A Highways Department official said that remove the debris with the help of the Greater Chennai Corporation from time to time. “Once the work of storm water drain is completed, we will ask the Corporation to fence the roadside again,” the official said.