Poor infra bugs suburbs

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Medavakkam has witnessed a real-estate boom in recent years with residential apartment blocks and individual houses mushrooming in the locality.

However, residents of the fast-growing Chennai suburb are crying foul over the poor state of infrastructure, including unmotorable and poorly lit roads, and the poor disposal of waste that has turned the place into a dumpyard and created a health hazard.

“The condition of the arterial Vadakkupattu Road that is used by several hundreds of residents in the locality to reach the Medavakkam–Tambaram road has not been maintained for the last few years, making life tough for motorists. The road is uneven and does not have a tar topping, making it accident-prone.

Pedestrians find it very difficult to walk during the monsoon as they stumble on the potholes that are hidden by the stagnant water,” complains Jaiganesh, a resident of Medavakkam.

“The road is ridden with potholes and serves as a bone-breaker for motorists. During monsoon, the road becomes slippery and pedestrians slip and fall.

Residents have a tough time negotiating this rain-battered stretch,” rues Ganesh, another resident of the area.

Another resident, Latha Ganesh, complains that the thickly-populated locality plunges into darkness after sunset, posing a threat to women.

“There are no streetlights and I feel relieved only after my daughter comes home safely at night from office,” she says.

Vacant plots turn into dumpyards

Empty plots with stagnated sewage and wild growths of vegetation are becoming a major health and safety hazard for residents in several suburban areas in Chennai.

Most of these plots, mainly in Chrompet, East Tambaram and Chitlapakkam areas, have been left vacant for value appreciation by owners.

For instance, in Chitlapakkam, many vacant sites are being used as garbage-dumping grounds and a few with stagnant sewage have turned into breeding grounds for snakes, mosquitoes and pigs.
“Plenty of snakes have been spotted in the locality.

Residents are scared to step out of their houses. We are not allowing our children to play outdoors,” complained Mr Arun Kumar, a resident of Chitlapakkam.

Failure to carry out regular maintenance work at the sites leads to water logging and gradually the land turns into garbage dumping grounds, complained locals.

“Several pleas to plot owners to regularly maintain the land have proved futile. We were forced to clean up the place with our own money,” said S. Sarathy, a resident of Tirumagal Nagar, Chitlapakkam.

When contacted, Mr Mohan, president of Chitlapakkam town panchayat said, “We don’t have the authority to enter private properties without the permission of the owners. When we contact them, they say that the construction will soon begin at the site.”