Labourers sieve sand. A few others carry bricks and bitumen. No, I am not reporting a scene from a construction site. These images come from the pavements of Gandhi Nagar. They are such a common sight in the neighbourhood that most residents take them for granted.
“The builders use the walkway as their site office. They stock all the construction materials on the pavement. With their rightful space usurped, pedestrians walk on the road,” says Lakshmi Vasan, a long-time resident. Walking on the road is not easy either. There is a reason. Another long-time resident V.S. Ravikumar says there are many institutions and commercial establishments within the locality and they invite a lot of traffic.
Lakshmi points out that construction debris is dumped in the dustbins. Due to this, the rag pickers find it difficult to rummage through the bin. When they finally manage to work their way through the debris and find something of value, the debris is out of the bin and on the pavement or road.
“Rubble is dumped stealthily in the bin — at night,” she says.
“The pavements are very narrow and most of the stretches are not properly maintained. In some places they are completely broken,” says Ravikumar.
Residents point out that even the recently-laid platforms have not been spared by the builders. Nobody seems to be accountable, they say. Residents say that the officials concerned need to exercise their authority and clear the platforms at the earliest.
