The lifelines of the city, by which people reach their work sites, places of learning, hospitals and markets, can also be a source of trouble. Almost every year, arterial roads and streets in residential localities get battered during the monsoons. The northeast monsoon is yet to arrive but already, residents have been at the receiving end as roads have been unable to withstand spells of sharp, intermittent showers in recent months.
The elaborate road network in the city runs into a few thousand kilometres. While most of them are under the care of the Corporation, some stretches are under agencies such as the State Highways department and local bodies in the city’s immediate suburbs.
There are also roads in very small pockets maintained by Central agencies such as the Ministry of Defence in Avadi, St. Thomas Mount and Pallavaram or the Railways in Perambur (ICF). The quality of roads here is in stark contrast to those in other parts of the city.
The condition of roads in the city has been a cause of concern for years and many residents allege a bias. “There are a few influential pockets in south and central Chennai where roads are good, complete with pavements, road signs and even reflectors, but in the rest of the city, we have to be content with very bad roads,” laments,” Shyam Sundar, a resident of Mugalivakkam, which became part of the Corporation in 2011.
An employee in a bio-technology company, he says the quality of roads in far-flung areas has not kept pace with residential development there and pitches for “equitable distribution” of money to ensure that roads all over the metropolis are of uniformly good quality.
