Clear skies dominated Saturday, but the past week’s rain has had a devastating impact on the city’s roads and disrupted daily life.
While waterlogging continues in several areas, particularly in the suburbs, elsewhere, residents are left with battered, pothole-ridden roads.
In Madhanangkuppam near Retteri, road connectivity has been cut off as a portion of Kadappa Road that connects Ambattur and Retteri has been washed away by the overflowing Korattur lake. “While the Water Resources Department has taken up work to replace the culvert with a bridge, it remains incomplete, forcing us to take a detour,” says Sukumar of Madhanangkuppam.
With the meteorological department predicting another spell on Sunday, residents are worried. Friday’s upper air cyclonic circulation that lies over Comorin area and its neighbourhood will result in the rains.
Over the past two days, the Chennai Corporation’s helpline ‘1913’ has received nearly 100 complaints, mostly pertaining to waterlogging. Though the Corporation has taken up patch work, a bulk of its road-laying activity will take place only after the monsoon, says an official.
Of the total number of 2,706 potholes identified across the city, about 700 are being repaired at present, says the official.
Adding to the chaos is Chennai Metro Rail work that occupies large portions of arterial roads, exacerbating traffic congestion.
It is particularly difficult to commute through stretches in Anna Nagar, Anna Salai and Poonamallee High Road where Metro Rail work is in progress, says V. Subramani of Traffic and Transportation Forum. However, officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited say they lay roads wherever construction is complete, and restore traffic.
Residents all over the city, including in areas like Ethiraj Salai, Pantheon Road, Whites Road, Nelson Manickam Road, Kodambakkam High Road, Valluvar Kottam, Bazullah Road, near Rangarajapuram flyover, Smith Road and Dr. Ambedkar College Road in Pulianthope, have to put up with damaged roads.
P. Anand of Lloyds Road says, “It is challenging to avoid the potholes and waterlogged stretches while driving. Sometimes, civic authorities fill the potholes with broken stones and sand. But, that doesn’t last long.”
In suburbs like Ram Nagar in Madipakkam and Shirdi Sai Nagar, Madambakkam, inundation is a perennial problem as stormwater drains there are not desilted properly.
S. Mahalakshmi, a resident of Bagheerathi Nagar, Madipakkam, says, “We wade through knee-deep water for a week after rains. Our problems continue despite several complaints to elected representatives.”
The downpour has also left potholes on suburban arterial roads such as Velachery Main Road and Medavakkam Main Road.
Meanwhile, the Corporation plans to develop cement-concrete road layers at junctions. “The number of locations with water stagnation has reduced from 242 to less than 100 this year. We use cold mix to repair potholes. We use mobile apps to take pictures and map areas to concentrate on after the rains,” says an official.
Each zone has equipment to deal with complaints regarding stormwater drains and fallen trees. “We have appointed one liaison officer in every zone to handle the temporary fixing of roads,” says the official.
(Reporting by
K. Lakshmi,
Aloysius Xavier Lopez, T. Madhavan,
Evelyn Ratnakumar
and Sunitha Sekar)
