‘VIP’ road gets special treatment

 

The corporation cold-milling (the process by which the old bitumen layer is torn off before a new one is laid) Kamarajar Salai in a phased manner is interesting as it goes against its principle of not modifying its roads when the rainy season is on.

 

“There are invisible damages to the surface,” was how a corporation official reacted, when DC asked why the local body thought it fit to start relaying a road that had not been affected in the rain. 

 

“It has also been nearly four years since the road was laid. There is a lifetime for every road and Kamarajar Salai has survived past its expiry date,” the official added.

 

Officials said the road would  be re-laid using the same technique adopted by the local body for its 194 BRR (bus route road) project. “Three layers of bitumen will make the difference,” noted an official. The corporation’s move has irked residents who said the agency has its priorities misplaced. Residents of Adambakkam pointed to the Link Road in Maduvankarai as an example. “This is a road which connects St Thomas Mount, Adambakkam and nearby localities with Guindy and the rest of the city. The Adambakkam bus depot is located here and it is a very busy bus route road and it is also very narrow,” said S. Ranganathan, a resident.

 

Ranganathan added that the recent rain had totally damaged the motorable surface. “There are deep potholes which the workers are only now filling up, after more than a week, using some dry cement. It is a back breaking ride through here,” complained an MTC bus driver. When rainwater filled up the Palavanthangal, St. Thomas Mount and Thillai Ganga Nagar subways, this Link Road was inundated by vehicles as it is the only alternative to reach Guindy from these suburbs. Yet, the neglect by authorities concerns some like auto driver Rajanna. “May be, it is because no minister lives here,” he said. 

 

While corporation higher ups maintained they will be relaying every bus route road as soon as the monsoon is over and they have called out tenders for the same, one official noted that modern day technology permits engineers to relay a whole road even during rainy season. “It is a simple matter of where and whether the higher ups deem it necessary,” the official said.