Padi Kuppam Road is not just a dusty, potholed stretch with a basic civic problem in Chennai. It reflects the failure of the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department to rein in its own line agencies — Metro Water and Chennai Corporation — in the event of severe disruption of civic life caused by shoddy implementation of projects and a ruthless lack of coordination.
Four years of official apathy pertaining to relaying of the road has left thousands of residents angry. But most of the affected residents say they are reluctant to protest against officials as a number of them are government employees. Others are simply scared to talk to officials concerned.
Every time a motorist or pedestrian or a resident gets injured on the road, Chennai Corporation gets a flurry of phone calls on its helpline 1913. Now, residents have even stopped reacting to such agonising occurrences.
“Corporation officials also refuse to take action, mentioning the delay in another drainage project by Metrowater and failing to take any sensible amount of responsibility,” says Malathi, a resident. Pointing to a lack of accountability among the officials, another resident says the voice of residents is not heard. “The city has become unsafe. We are not able to give our opinion. Is this an independent country,” asks another resident who was reportedly prevented by the police from launching a protest against the delay.
Unable to cope with pollution caused by dust, residents were even planning to take measures to clean the road on their own. “Our windows have been remaining closed for many years. We reported it to the pollution control board officials, who ignored it. The recent rains have made the road worse. We are fed up,” says the resident.
“The Chennai Corporation has floated tenders for road relaying four times, repeatedly cancelling it owing to a delay in completion of a sewer network project in the past few years. The estimated amount for the work has increased from Rs. 1 to 2.8 crore over a period of time,” says S. Andrews, Corporation Councillor.
Corporation officials said they will relay the road once the project on sewer network along the stretch is completed. The question is when that will be done.