Even roads laid six months ago fail to withstand onslaught of rain

CHENNAI: It happens every year during monsoon: roads getting battered and developing potholes. But why would you say to the ones that were laid barely six months ago and got washed away in the current downpour? Are we incapable of building all-weather roads? And isn’t there any accountability?
Take, for instance, roads in suburban areas such as Madipakkam, Ullagaram, Puzhuthivakkam, Adambakkam, Nanganallur, Manapakkam, and Moulivakkam. They were all laid in the last six months but have failed the monsoon test.

People in the suburbs who got the roads after a long battle blamed Corporation officials for not building storm water drains in parallel, which was why water got stagnated and damaged the roads. “All 15 roads in Manapakkam were laid about seven months ago under the mega city scheme. Yet the main road connecting Manapakkam and Kolapakkam has been completely damaged. It is now full of craters. How many years will it take for the Corporation to build roads with storm water drainage?” rued K Sankaran, a resident.

The condition of inner roads was no different in Madipakkam’s Kuberan Nagar, Choolaimedu, Perambur Barracks road, Otteri, Jamalia, Ayanavaram, Guindy - Adambakkam road and Moulivakkam main road.
S Thirupathi of Madipakkam said the residents have been demanding for the past two years that the Corporation lay a proper road for Kuberan Nagar. “One cannot even travel 100 metres along the second main road at Kuberan Nagar that connects Madipakkam with other parts of the suburb. Corporation officials remain indifferent to our area,” he charged.

Apart from the recently laid roads, a month ago the Corporation took up renovation of underground drainage (UGD) works at several places. Owing to the delay in completing the renovation, the condition of several roads has turned from bad to worse. The UGD works taken up in Adambakkam, Guindy, Velachery, Perungudi, Taramani, Sholinganallur, Thuraipakkam and Palavakkam have been delayed. The works have been suspended temporarily and are expected to resume in a few days.
Corporation officials say they have begun a survey to assess the damaged roads across 15 zones. The exercise would be over in two days. “When the monsoon eases, patch-up works will be done on bus route roads on top priority. Subsequently, inner roads would be repaired,” said an officer.
According to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), over 90 per cent of the bus route roads are in good condition though some of them have been damaged by the civic body to drain the stagnant water. The Corporation has 471 bus route roads (wider than 40 feet) that have a combined length of 387 km under its jurisdiction.

In the last one year, as many as 149 bus roads have been laid for the distance of 127.41 km at a cost of `323.41 crore under the mega city scheme. And another 92 bus route roads were developed under the Tamil Nadu Urban Road Infrastructure Project covering 72.65 km at the cost of `162 crore. “Compared to the previous years, this year despite heavy rains there was no water stagnation in many residential areas. The roads cut by the Corporation for draining too would be repaired,” said an officer.
The GCC maintains about 33,747 inner roads spread over 5,525 km that are between 10 ft and 40 ft wide.