Patchwork Rhodes – The Hindu

A civilian activist Sandhya Vedullyply doubled it: he would not only have to navigate through the 9th Main Street’s Dug-up Stretch of Anna Nagar, but also through civic red tape. “For the first time in January, the stretch is being dug again, this time for water and sewer connections. The residents told the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) that to allow underground work to be done in advance, yet, the road was released again. Now, it is again open,” she says. In addition, an unresolved issue of 20-feet electrical cable for an old building requires a road to cut once again. But this file is stuck between the officers and the councilor, she says.

Many residents are in equal condition. The road situation remains bad even after determining the rules for regulating road cuts, weekly meetings were introduced for coordination between civilian agencies and government departments, and the appointment of quality controllers at a cost of ₹ 7.5 crore for monitoring roadplace.

Online application for approval

GCC has made it possible to apply for online permission for road cuts. Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO) are required to hand over GCC once to hand over GCC once. Till then, they are expected to temporarily restore roads with concrete or wet mixture according to GCC norms.

However, an official of the bus route Rhodes Department of GCC admitted that permission is often bypassed for non-fruitful work. “Recently, the GCC even considering filing an FIR against Metrovatters to dig the roads kept in Anna Nagar without permission,” he said. Under the rules, if a road is illegally cut off without the permission of the GCC, all the materials will be confiscated, the illegally laid structures will be removed, criminals will be filed an FIR to face legal action (officers are only included in the FIR with the consent of the commissioner), and three times will be charged.

But this process is not being followed. Councilor R. of Ward 4 of Communist Party of India (Marxist). Jayaraman says that on Mullai Street in Girija Nagar, a new release road was dug for laying electric cables. But it was not restored on time. “On another road in the same region, Tangdco dug a newly laid road, but despite the payment, the temporary restoration failed to complete the restoration. The authorities passed the defect without completing the restoration,” they say.

Meanwhile, the residents are being forced to post from the column to repair road-cuts. Thirumurthy Nagar, Nungambakkam K. Murali says that the road dug by Metrovatters remained open for more than a year. Many complaints were wasted for officers and elected representatives. The GCC made the road motorized only after taking the case for the Chief Secretary.

Raghukumar C of Community Welfare Brigade. Says that while the government line departments are responsible for good infrastructure, it is necessary for citizens to report issues and be active in coordination with officials. “Advisors were appointed for quality control, but are visually inactive. Therefore, people should take control,” they say. “Many electric poles were damaged and loose wires came in contact with open drains, pose a danger of fire during the monsoon. No action was taken by the authorities for several months. These problems were solved with only the intervention of the community,” they say.

C. Ramakrishnan, Secretary of the Federation of Adyar Residents Association, says that a part of the second main road of Gandhi Nagar was submerged a few months ago, when the road was dug by service departments and remained unpublished for weeks. “Many parts were damaged. In front of the grand dessert in Adir, the road is uneven as the drains of storm-water were improperly kept.

Makkal Needi Miam’s M. Kamla Kannan says that long pending demand to restore the damaged TPP-Burma Nagar Link Road in Manali region has not been received for many years. “In addition, several roads were dug in Burma Nagar by CMWSSB several weeks ago, but were not restored. Children, women and two -wheelers riders who often get these small streets from accidents.”

Tuesday meetings

The question is, who should take responsibility for these issues. A senior GCC official admitted that it is the responsibility of the civic body to ensure good roads. He says that it is holding meetings every Tuesday to coordinate with other departments. The new road cut was stopped in September. By 17 September, 1,281 road-cut repairs were completed, while 589 were to be repaired.

From 2017-18 to 2024-25, the total allocation for road restoration had increased, but its use was uneven. In 2017-18, only ₹ 69 crore was spent against the allocation of ₹ 245 crore, while in 2020-21, the expenditure was ₹ 210 crore on a plan of ₹ 143 crore. In 2023-24, ₹ 881 crore was announced, just ₹ 121 crore was used. A senior official says that the bus root road fund is transferred to the zone, and the expense is recorded at the zonal level. Therefore, there is a difference between allocation and expenses.

GCC Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran says that the corporation has planned to take temporary road restoration, as most of the cities are under its control and the service departments pay the required fees. In 2024-25, these fees included of 18 crore for water supply connection, sewage pipelines and 17 crores and ₹ 15 crore for electric cables.

However, an official of the bus Root Rhodes Department says this is a difficult scheme as the department is a challenge to manage large -scale projects related to CMWSSB and Tangedco. “In addition, it is difficult to handle both development and repair simultaneously. Therefore, issues arise in some areas. Two hundred battery-powered vehicles were deployed-to speed up each-road restoration for a ward.”

The service departments blame the roads for lack of coordination, watchman restoration and approval in approval. CMWSSB stretches the GCC for temporary restoration with concrete once with pipelines. Sources say the stretch is with a 3.5-meter bituminous layer. “So far this year, about 2,800 roads extending up to 440 km have been handed over to the GCC for relay, a network data shared through an application program interface. However, insufficient coordination between some government agencies can damage water and sewer lines. It takes four to five days to restore the generality,”.

With CMRL creating its 118.9-km stage 2 network, residents often find the flag to damaged roads in the execution of the project.

Four layers

CMRL officials say contractors need to maintain roads for standard and restore them in motorized conditions. The roads consist of four layers: granular sub-staff (GSB), weight mix macadam (WMM), Dens bituminous macadam (DBM), and bituminous concrete (BC). The depth is dug, some layers are later restored. Officials noted that this staggering relay resting roads are the main reason for quickly wearing out.

A senior official of the electricity department says that a dedicated unit, Chennai Development Circle, handles the process of permission for road excavation, to lay new underground power cables. Once a project is approved, civil officers and traffic police are already informed.

The main problem arises when cables are damaged by other agencies such as metrovators, telecom service providers or gas companies. Local electric officials face tight deadline to secure online permission and complete the work. The officer urged the GCC to solve the issue of coordination. Institute for Transportation and Development Policy Varsha says that negligence or lack of awareness among officials is not the cause of poor roads, but lacks proper knowledge of standard operation processes. “Road restoration by other utilities is sub-reinforcement and not even GCC marks. Still, later, the process may be better understanding. A weekly meeting on guidelines for road restoration procedures for several departments can help a weekly meeting in proper road restoration,” she says.

(K. Lakshmi, Sunita Sekar and R. with Srikanth’s input)