Road dug up for drainage not relaid for months, irks residents

“The road is at least 300-400 metres long and earlier was used by heavy vehicles too. After they dug it up for drainage, the traffic was diverted. The work went on for one month. But it has been over six months now, and the officials haven’t bothered to relay the road,” said Jayachandran S, a resident of Prakash Nagar, Pillaiyar Koil Street, Ambattur.

During the monsoon, the situation turns worse as nobody can even walk on the road as potholes can’t be seen through stagnant muddy water. Residents going to the nearby temple, often complain of falling after stepping on protruding boulders, he added.

Locals pointed out that even motorists and cyclists have started avoiding this route and are taking another route to reach the main road, which means more than a kilometre’s extra journey.

“The city corporation has started the stormwater drains work in the neighbouring streets. So we cannot use even those streets even in case of any emergency. We are forced to take at least a kilometre to reach the main road and it would take more than 45 minutes due to traffic in the locality. Though we have raised multiple complaints to the officials they don’t even bother to give a reply,” said Sathish Kumar K, another resident of Prakash Nagar.

When contacted, a senior zonal official of the Ambattur zone said since the Metro Water connection was given recently the road had to be dug up again. “By next week the road by will be relaid,” he assured.