Alandur road caves in

Chennai: A 6 feet hole formed in Alandur in ward 161 of the corporation on Tuesday morning. The gaping hole, which is about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide formed on the Pudupettai road in the morning, leading to traffic disruption.The spot was barricaded by the traffic police and vehicles diverted through the adjacent Ponniamman street. The hole was closed by evening and traffic resumed on the stretch.

The road, which extends for about 1.2 km, was laid two years ago after being added to the corporation limits. Civic officials said poorly closed excavations had resulted in the damage.
“Metro water pipelines were laid recently in Alandur, Adambakkam and Nanganallur when huge pipelines were buried in the roads. The contractors laid the roads without closing the hole properly,” explained a corporation engineer.

“We have started to trace the contractor and will take action against the firm for the damage,” the official added. Ward councillor S. Vembarasan said the hole could have resulted due to the decade old underground drainage problem. “Below the hole, we found a 10 feet deep pit. This could be due to the deep excavations made during the underground drainage projects carried out more than 10 years ago,” the councillor surmised.

“This is an arterial road. If contractors are so lethargic in laying this road, it is hard to imagine the state of the interior roads,” said T. Ramamurthy, an auto driver. This is not the first instance when the road surface have given in. The stretch between St. Thomas Mount–Medavakkam road near Adambakkam, parts of K.K. Nagar Anna main road, T. Nagar Nair road have also witnessed similar incidents.