Battered Anna Nagar roads languish in neglect

With the Tiruchi Corporation’s focus remaining largely on sanitation to retain its clean city ranking and dengue prevention in recent months, relaying and repairing roads seems to have taken a back seat.

Although the monsoon is yet to turn vigorous in Tiruchi, the slight showers since the first week of this month have been enough to render the interior roads slushy and multiply the potholes. A case in point is the condition of roads at Anna Nagar near Thennur in the city. The potholes on the main road leading to the colony, the Kannadasan Salai, has only increased exponentially. The rains have only made the potholes bigger and wider, giving a torrid time for road users. With a popular indoor badminton court being situated inside the colony, the Kannadasan Salai attracts a large number of motorists every day.

Still worse is the condition of some of the interior roads, most of which have huge open drains without proper outlets for draining rainwater and sewage. Stretches of roads in many places inside the colony have turned slushy and slippery. With three ration shops located in the densely populated area, people could be seen having a tough time negotiating the roads carrying commodities purchased at the shops.

“Except for a few interior roads, which were relaid about three years back, all roads in the colony have not been repaired for several years now. The condition of some of the roads is so bad that autorickshaw drivers refuse to enter them and drop passengers at the entrance of the lanes. One cannot even walk on the Ukkirakaliamman Temple road,” regretted Sakunthala Srinivasan, a resident of the locality and president, Tiruchi Payaneetalar Iyakkam.

Though there has been talk of funds being allotted for relaying the Kannadasan Salai, the work is yet to see the light of the day. “We do not know how long will it take to see the light of the day,” she said.

An official of the Corporation, when contacted, pointed out that the Corporation has already decided to take up road development works at an estimate of ₹12 crore but the tenders were yet to be called. Besides, the works could not be taken up due to the monsoon, the official said but promised the works would be executed soon.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/battered-anna-nagar-roads-languish-in-neglect/article20559693.ece