Chennai: Irked over the unfair road relaying projects in the suburban city, residents of Chitlapakkam and Pallavaram are threatening to file a writ petition in Madras High court against the Kancheepuram Collectorate and local civic bodies.
Coordinated with a facebook volunteer group called ‘Chitlapakkam Rising’, a legal team has already sent notices to Kancheepuram collecterate, Pallavaram Municipality and Chitlapakkam Town Panchayat on January 13 and are awaiting a reply.
The usual scenario of the height of roads being increased has affected the NGO members who are determined to change things. Talking to DC, Sunil Jayaraman of the group said that the lapses in the system are taking a toll on resident’s lives.
“While the city roads are laid after milling the existing ones, why not in the suburbs? Heightened roads are the root cause of deluge during floods.” he said.
The issue became more acute after group members opposed the road laying in Srinivasa Nagar of Chitlapakkam on December 25, 2015. After the members’ intervention and a report in Deccan Chronicle, the municipal authorities agreed to mill the road before relaying.
But, to their dismay, the road is still left incomplete with gravel on all the sides as the municipality authorities are aggravated against us for taking legal steps, said Udaya Kumar, a group member. Other streets in Martin Luther King street and Bharatamatha street were recently relaid without milling, lamented residents.
Advocate of Madras High Court, M. Sophia said that the rules prescribed in Town and Country Planning act are never followed.
“We will file the petition based on the RTI reply where municipal authorities maintained following the policies. However, it was never followed while relaying roads in Chitlapakkam after the floods,” she added.
Municipality (or Corporation or panchayat) authorities should coordinate with Public Works Department to ensure that the existing EB and telephone cables are not damaged, the advocate added. The group has also conducted a door-to-door signature campaign to collect over 5,000 signatures for the cause.
