Driving down the pothole-ridden MGR Salai will test your patience and driving skills. For a distance of 500 metres, the road is pitted in the middle, forcing people to use the margins. With the margins of the road mostly encroached upon, this results in a chaotic traffic situation.
Chennai MetroWater Supply and Sewage Board (CMWSSB) had dug the central portion of the road to lay distribution pipelines for supply of water.Over the last three months, the Board has only completed work only on a one-kilometre stretch. Due to continual movement of vehicles, the dug-up areas have caved in causing difficulty to commuters.
The sporadic rains have made the situation worse.
“We are waiting for permission from the police department to continue our work. It’s been a month since the old licence expired. Also, we are allowed to work only between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m,” said Pritviraj, an assistant engineer from CMWSSB.
“We have another kilometre to complete before we can hand over the road to the Highways Department, which maintains it.”
Some feel the road could have been blocked to facilitate the work. “This is a busy area with many IT companies. If we block this road, then the employees of the companies will find it difficult to commute,” said a police personnel. He said as the road was in a pathetic condition, many commuters were avoiding it. MGR Salai, which has two major IT parks — RMZ Info Park and SP Infocity — on the two-kilometre stretch, is used by hundreds of motorists to reach these offices as well as to reach Thiruvanmiyur and Velachery. “I have no choice but to take this road,” said Manoj, a employee of Amazon.