Civic works, rain worsen already damaged roads in Chennai's Ramapuram

CHENNAI:  Motorists encounter bad roads in Ramapuram most of the time, but now even pedestrians are finding it difficult to walk on the roads. Even a short spell of rain makes it difficult to negotiate the roads that are already damaged due to stormwater drain and Metro Water work.

Shankar Nagar Main Road and several areas like Giri Nagar opposite the DLF have no roads and are covered with mud and whatever remains after work has been carried out. "The stormwater drain work was completed two years ago and the Metro Water pipeline work is going on for more than six months now. At present, the pits of stormwater drain work are completely chocked as the roads were dug up by the Metro Water," said Deepak, a resident.

He added that even an ambulance finds it difficult to negotiate the roads as even the alternate road is dug up. "Recently, my father feel ill at night and we had to rush him to the hospital. While it should have ideally taken 20 minutes to reach the hospital, the ambulance took more than one hour due to the condition of roads," he said.

IT employees who use the Shankar Nagar Main Road to reach offices face the same issues. "During rains, many employees slip and fall. Most of us carry newspaper so that we can wipe the slush from our footwear before reaching office. We can't even find autoricshaws during emergencies as the drivers don’t want to come inside the locality," said K Nandhini, an IT employee.

Meanwhile, parents of schoolchildren said they live in constant fear due to the condition of roads. “The school buses struggle to travel in these lanes and children often fall down. While we understand that these works have to be carried out, it should have been planned properly to minimise our troubles,” said J Venkat, a parent.

The metro water is carrying out both sewage and water supply pipeline work in the locality. It will be completed soon and we will start laying roads within 15 days. We are also taking steps to clean the slush daily, said Selvakumar, councillor of ward 154.