Patchwork roads

Sandhya Vedullapalli, a civic activist, finds it doubly taxing: she has to navigate not solely by way of the dug-up stretches of Anna Nagar’s ninth Main Street but additionally by way of civic pink tape. “First relaid in January, the stretch is being dug up once more, this time for water and sewer connections. The residents had requested the Greater Chennai Corporation [GCC] to permit the underground work to be accomplished beforehand; but, the street was relaid. Now, it has been minimize open once more,” she says. Furthermore, an unresolved problem of a 20-ft electrical cable for an outdated constructing requires the street to be minimize open as soon as once more. But the file stays caught between officers and the councillor, she provides.

Many residents are in an analogous place. Road situations stay deplorable, even after guidelines had been laid down for regulating street cuts, weekly conferences had been launched for coordination amongst civic companies and authorities departments, and the appointment of high quality controllers at a value of ₹7.5 crore to observe road-laying.

Online utility for approval

The GCC has made it doable to use for permission on-line for street cuts. Utility companies such because the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), and the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (Tangedco) are required at hand over roads to the GCC as soon as their work is accomplished. Until then, they’re anticipated to revive the roads briefly with concrete or moist combine, in line with the GCC’s norms.

However, an official of the Bus Route Roads Department of the GCC admits that permission is commonly bypassed, even for non-emergency work. “Recently, the GCC even thought-about submitting an FIR towards Metrowater for digging up freshly laid roads at Anna Nagar with out permission,” he mentioned. Under the rules, if a street is minimize illegally with out the GCC’s permission, all supplies shall be confiscated, illegally laid constructions shall be eliminated, an FIR shall be filed for offenders to face authorized motion (officers are included within the FIR solely with the Commissioner’s consent), and a positive thrice the restoration value and declare costs shall be imposed.

But this process isn’t being adopted. Ward 4 Councillor R. Jayaraman, of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), says that on Mullai Street at Girija Nagar, a newly relaid street was dug up for laying electrical cables. But it was not restored on time. “On one other avenue of the identical space, Tangedco dug up a newly laid street, however failed to hold out even non permanent restoration, regardless of funds in accordance with estimates. Authorities cross the blame with out finishing restoration,” he says.

Residents, in the meantime, are being compelled to run from pillar to publish for road-cut repairs. Ok. Murali of Thirumoorthy Nagar, Nungambakkam, says {that a} street dug up by Metrowater was left open for over a yr. Several complaints to officers and elected representatives went in useless. The GCC made the street motorable solely after he took the matter to the Chief Secretary.

Raghukumar C. of the Community Welfare Brigade says that whereas the federal government line departments are answerable for good infrastructure, it’s important for residents to be proactive in reporting points and coordinating with officers. “Consultants had been appointed for high quality management, however are visibly inactive. So, folks should take management,” he says. “Many electrical energy poles had been broken and unfastened wires got here involved with open drains, posing a hearth hazard throughout the monsoon. No motion was taken for a lot of months by officers. Only with the neighborhood’s intervention had been these issues resolved,” he says.

C. Ramakrishnan, secretary of the Federation of Adyar Residents’ Associations, says a portion of Gandhi Nagar Second Main Road sank a number of months in the past after the street was dug up by service departments and it remained unrepaired for weeks. “Many stretches had been broken. In entrance of The Grand Sweets at Adyar, the street stays uneven as a result of storm-water drains had been laid improperly. Officials neither inform residents about street cuts nor do they attend to the injury instantly when flagged,” he says.

M. Kamala Kannan of Makkal Needhi Maiam says the long-pending demand for restoring the broken T.P.P.- Burma Nagar Link Road of the Manali Zone has not met for a number of years. “Also, many roads had been dug up at Burma Nagar by the CMWSSB a number of weeks in the past however weren’t restored. Children, girls and two-wheeler riders who take these small lanes typically meet with accidents.”

Tuesday conferences

The query is who should take accountability for these points. A senior official of the GCC admits that it’s the civic physique’s accountability to make sure good roads. He says it has been holding conferences each Tuesday to coordinate with different departments. New street cuts had been halted in September. As of September 17, 1,281 road-cut repairs had been accomplished, whereas 589 repairs had been to be accomplished.

From 2017-18 to 2024-25, the full allocation for street restoration had elevated, however its utilisation was uneven. In 2017-18, solely ₹69 crore was spent towards the allocation of ₹245 crore, whereas in 2020-21, the expenditure rose to ₹210 crore on a plan of ₹143 crore. In 2023-24, of the ₹881 crore introduced, simply ₹121 crore was utilised. A senior official explains that Bus Route Road funds are transferred to zones, and expenditure is recorded on the zonal degree. Hence, there’s a distinction between the allocation and the spending.

GCC Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran says the Corporation plans to take over non permanent street restoration, since most metropolis roads are underneath its management and repair departments pay the required costs. In 2024-25, these costs included ₹18 crore for water provide connections, ₹17 crore for sewage pipelines, and ₹15 crore for electrical energy cables.

However, an official of the Bus Route Roads Department says this can be a troublesome plan for the reason that division finds it a problem to handle large-scale tasks involving the CMWSSB and the Tangedco. “Also, dealing with each improvement and repairs concurrently is troublesome. Hence, points do come up in some areas. Two hundred battery-operated autos had been deployed — one every for a ward — for expediting street restoration.”

Service departments blame the patchy roads on lack of coordination, staggered restoration, and snags in approval. The CMWSSB arms over stretches to the GCC for non permanent restoration with concrete as soon as pipelines are laid. The stretch is relaid with a 3.5-m bituminous layer, sources say. “So far this yr, about 2,800 roads spanning 440 km have been handed over to the GCC for relaying, with community knowledge shared by way of an utility programme interface. However, insufficient coordination amongst some authorities companies might trigger injury to water and sewer strains. It takes 4 to 5 days to revive normalcy,” the sources say.

With the CMRL developing its 118.9-km Phase 2 community, residents typically flag roads broken within the execution of the mission.

Four layers

CMRL officers say contractors are required to take care of roads to the usual and restore them to motorable situation. Roads have 4 layers: Granular Sub-Base (GSB), Wet Mix Macadam (WMM), Dense Bituminous Macadam (DBM), and Bituminous Concrete (BC). Depending on the depth dug, some layers are restored later. Officials be aware that this staggered relaying is the primary motive for the restored roads to wear down shortly.

A senior official of the Electricity Department says that for laying new underground energy cables, a devoted unit, Chennai Development Circle, handles the method of permission for street digging. Once a mission is permitted, civic officers and the visitors police are knowledgeable beforehand.

The primary drawback arises when cables are broken by different companies reminiscent of Metrowater, telecom service suppliers, or gasoline corporations. Local electrical energy officers face tight deadlines to safe on-line permission and full the work. The official urges the GCC to resolve this problem of coordination. V. Varsha of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy says negligence or lack of understanding amongst officers isn’t the explanation for unhealthy roads, however the lack of correct information of the usual working procedures. “Road restoration by different utilities is sub-par and even that of the GCC isn’t up to speed. Yet, the latter might have a greater understanding of the method. A weekly assembly on the rules for street restoration procedures for officers of a number of departments might assist in correct street restoration,” she says.

(With inputs from Ok. Lakshmi, Sunitha Sekar and R. Srikanth)