This story is from November 25, 2014

Canteens, not infrastructure, get all focus

More than 1,100 vehicles add to Chennai's traffic every day, but the city corporation has not done enough to widen and re-lay roads.
Canteens, not infrastructure, get all focus
More than 1,100 vehicles add to Chennai's traffic every day, but the city corporation has not done enough to widen and re-lay roads. The state of the roads is just a pointer to the state of civic infrastructure in the city.
The three-and-a-half years that the AIADMK has held the reins of the council have been lackluster, without visible development.
Work to lay storm water drains has been mired in charges of corruption. Unlike previous councils, the AIADMK-led council has not given flyovers and new roads a push. All they have done is to add a layer of concrete to some roads — but the new white-topped roads are also drawing criticism.
Storm water drains funded by JNNURM and work on footpaths are unfinished though the city has expanded from 174 sqkm to 436 sqkm since September 2011.
When it led the council, the DMK built 15 bridges and subways in the city , beginning with T Nagar, Cenotaph Road, Mahalingapuram, Perambur Loco Works, Villivakkam, Royapuram, Mint and Rangarajapuram.The projects that were started at the fag end of the DMK's term, including Korukkupet, Vysarpadi, Anna Nagar, Tirumangalam and Moolakadai flyovers, have been left incomplete. "Not a single road has been widened in the city in the last four years, though plans to widen many are on paper," said a government official.
Under the previous regime, the city got a little greener with Adyar Poonga, Semmozhi Poonga and 60 new parks developed on open space reservation land. Jai Nagar park near Koyambedu mofussil bus terminus was set up on land wrested from encroachers. Natesan Park and Tower Park were given a new look and the high-cost Marina beautification project got a thumbs-up from fitness freaks.
Today, garbage is piling up across the city with Kodungaiyur and Perungudi dumping grounds overflowing. The corporation lacks a plan to carry out scientific closure or look for a new site. A proposal to set up a dumping ground at Kuthambakkam and a decentralized solid waste management system have not yet taken off. "The mayor's priority is rolling out populist schemes like canteens rather than concentrating on civic infrastructure and improvement to hospitals and schools. The administration has wasted three years.The council does not discuss the city's growth," said former bureaucrat M G Devasahayam.
The corporation is yet to take up ambitious projects for want of funds and land acquisition problems. This includes skywalks at T Nagar and Parry's, grade separators at Valluvar Kottam, Virugambakkam and Madhya Kailash junctions, bicycle sharing project, T Nagar pedestrian plaza and an elevated road from Ega Theatre to Valluvar Kottam with three flyovers.
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