Summer trouble: Chennai roads dug up, then left open

It’s peak summer and an ideal time to relay roads, but it appears that the Greater Chennai Corporation is in deep sleep while several battered roads await a fix. The corporation kicked off road relay work in March and went on to fix more than 500 roads, including interior streets, but the initial enthusiasm dropped out of sight. As of now, several road projects are yet to take off, most of them in added areas of Madipakkam, Valsaravakkam, Maduravoyal, Ambattur, Mogappair, Porur and Ramapuram.
For residents of these areas, daily commute is nothing but misery. V Pughalventhan, a civic activist from Porur, said in ward 150’s Chettiyar Agaram and Thundalam near Porur, no road relaying work has begun. “Roads here have been damaged due to underground metro water work. They have not been relaid after the work. It is an arduous task to commute,” he said.
The situation in K K Nagar and MGR Nagar is no different. K Vishwanathan of K K Nagar said roads such MGR Main Road, Anna Main Road, Munuswamy Salai, Lakshmana Swamy Salai and Ramawamy Salai all need a fix.
Some stretches visited by TOI where roads were battered include Vembuliamman Kovil Street in Virugambakkam, Kamarajar High Road in Nerkundram, Madipakkam’s Ram Nagar 6thCross Street, Murali Krishna Nagar in Valasaravakkam and Raji Street in K K Nagar West.
Recently, some councillors raised the issue of poor conditions of roads in GCC’s council meeting. K V Thilagar of ward 92 in Mogappair said a
road leading to a HR and CE temple has come off, affecting more than 30,000 devotees. “Despite repeated requests, the road has not been relaid,” he said.
What’s the reason for the delay? As per tender documents, bids for 33 projects for relaying more than 500 roads across the city are yet to be opened, and have been shelved. The state government’s website states these tenders are at ‘yet to be opened’ stage. Senior officials said they needed time to vet the credentials of contractors. “During tenders given in March and April, several contractors took up multiple work and ended up abandoning roads after milling them. We don’t want that to happen again,” said an official who did not wish to be named.
With nearly a month of delay, some contractors allege malicious intentions behind holding back tenders. “A delay in opening and awarding tenders will give room for allotting work to contractors who ‘fall in line. ’ The GCC should accelerate the process in a democratic manner,” said a gradeone contractor.
Residents and contractors also said summer is the ideal month, and if it’s missed, then several roads would be bad during monsoon. Rama Rao, president of Greater Chennai Contractors Association, said summer is ideal for relaying roads.