Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Readers' Mail

MTC thanked

Sir, — The MTC have made arrangements to post one of its personnel near temple tower bus stop, at Nandanam to ensure all the LSS and Express buses halt at the stop between 9 a.m. and 10-30 a.m.. This arrangement is very useful and helpful for commuters working at Nandanam and its surroundings to reach their work place well in time. I request the MTC make this arrangement, permanent.

R.V. Ramanan,

Chromepet

Resume service

Sir, — The route no. 52 bus service from Nanganallur was a convenient one as it used to go through the GST road, touching Kathipara junction, Guindy station and Central. It was suspended following drainage work. Since laying of the road is in progress the service may be restored immediately.

N. Balasubramanian,

Nanganallur

Plea to MTC

Sir, — The buses plying from Poonamallee - M54H, 54H, 54N etc., via Ayyappanthangal are always overcrowded. Elders and women are unable to get into these buses. The MTC should take immediate steps to run a few buses from the Ayyappanthangal depot itself.

V. S. Gopalakrishnan,

Ayyappanthangal

Unreasonable

Sir, — It is unfair that the fare in express buses on routes PP120 and PP220 is thrice that of the ordinary ones as these buses stop at almost all halts from Central to Ambattur. These buses are without proper seat cushion and window shutters!

G. Abyvarghese,

president,

Senthil Nagar Residents'

Welfare Assn., Kolathur

Bus passengers' woes

Sir, — The people who have to go to West Saidapet by bus, suffer a lot due to inadequate services in the existing routes and diversion of 18 K buses to K18 route. Already bus routes 5E and 45D have been withdrawn. Services on routes 86 and 17D extension are erratic. Further buses No. F70 do not touch Jayaraj theatre terminus.

K. Subramaniyan,

Saidapet West

Hardship to passengers

Sir, — Often, M.T.C. buses halt well beyond the Mint terminus bus stop, forcing commuters to run to board the buses. As the departure of the buses is not announced, at the terminus, commuters are forced to scramble from one bus to another, unaware of which one is leaving first.

Abdul Haleem,

Old Washermanpet

Ananthapuri Express

Sir, — The Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai Express (6123/6124) trains are so popular that most of the days RAC and wait-listed passengers are not able to get confirmed reservation. I suggest that the trains are run on all the days and the number of sleeper coaches increased from 10 to 13. Whoever wants to travel to Nagercoil and beyond should be allowed to travel by sleeper coach by paying charges for reserved sitting.

S.Y. Narayanan,

Choolaimedu

Reschedule train timings

Sir, — Suburban rail commuters are facing hardship during weekends as the timings of services between 5-00 p.m. and 7-00 p.m. from Tiruvallur to Chennai Central are lopsided. There are services at 5-10 p.m., 5-30 p.m., 5-35 p.m., 5-50 p.m., 5-55 p.m., 6-00 p.m., 6-42 and 7-00 p.m. on weekdays.

During weekends the 5-10 p.m. and 6-20 p.m. services are cancelled. Four trains leave within 30 minutes and for the next 50 minutes (i.e. from 5-55 p.m. to 6-42) p.m. there is no train to Chennai Central. I request the authorities concerned to reschedule the timings during weekends.

The service that leaves Tiruvallur at 5-50 p.m. can be rescheduled at 6-20 p.m. so that the waiting time would be only 20 minutes between 5-50 p.m. and 6-42 p.m.

R. Veera Raghavan,

Kolathur

Parking lot?

Sir, — The Arcot road has heavy traffic in both directions during peak hours, along the entire stretch from Kodambakkam to Porur. The road gets very narrow at certain stretches like the ones near Virugambakkam market, from Ram theatre to Kamala theatre and near Vembuli Amman Kovil to La chatelaine school. All kinds of vehicles are parked haphazardly along the entire stretch of the road (even on narrow stretches) hindering free traffic.

V. Madavan Viswanathan,

Saligramam

Make footpaths smooth

Sir, — The footpaths alongside the 100 feet road in Vadapalani are not smooth to walk along. There are many man-holes which make walking space narrower.

T. Soundararajan,

Vadapalani

Widen road

Sir, — In the last 20 years the traffic on the MTH Road has increased more than five times. But the width of the road has shrunken because of encroachment. Many motorists have fallen victims to accidents. Ambattur has an industrial estate and hence there is frequent movement of lorries. The road must be widened from Padi junction to Avadi.

T. Gunaseelan,

Ambattur

Make it one-way

Sir, — For the residents of Velacherry, Velacherry Main road is the main marketing area. The road is very narrow. Now the corporation has provided footpath of two feet width on both sides of the road. Hence, the road has become narrower. Due to non-removal of lamp posts, pillar boxes, transformers, trees etc on the footpath, people are reluctant to use the footpath. Hence, it becomes very difficult to go to the market.

May I request the authorities concerned to make this road one-way but for the public transport system?

R. S. Mani,

Velachery

Making crossing safe

Sir, — The plight of the residents/ children of our area to cross the GST Road near Kathipara junction is inexplicable.

As the population of this area namely Alandur is lower-middle class who rely on walking they have to cross the GST Road from Alandur side. With the increase in vehicular traffic day by day, the pedestrians find it difficult to cross the road without a police constable near the MGR statue, very close to the Alandur Municipal office.

C. G. Chakrapani,

Treasurer, Ashok Manor

Flat Owners' Assn., Alandur

Location of P.O.

Sir, — It is more than two months since the Kodambakkam West Post Office which was functioning on the Arcot Road was shifted to the Station Road opposite the Railway Station. This is causing much inconvenience to a number of commercial establishments and the general public. We urge the relocation of the post office where it was or somewhere near it.

Neelam,

Kodambakkam

For a post office

Sir, — Kottur is a fast developing middle and upper middle class area with a cluster of flats. Residents of the eastern side have to traverse 1-1/2 km to either go to Kotturpuram or Adyar if they have business in a post office or a bank. Can offices or extension counters be opened at Kottur?

If not, offices can be set up in the basement of Kotturpuram MRTS Station as is being done at a similar facility in Chintadripet.

P. S. Balakumar,

Kottur

Desilt lake

Sir, — There is a big lake near Iyyappa Nagar, Madipakkam which was brimming with copious water. That was a beautiful sight for scores of morning walkers. But now, the lake is completely dry except for a small patch of land with a puddle on it. The lake now wears a desolate look. It will be helpful if the government takes immediate measures to desilt the lake. This will greatly enhance the fast depleting groundwater table and also help in harvesting the much-needed rainwater.

D. Natarajan,

Nanganallur

Police `inactive'

Sir, — We, the residents of Chandrabanu Street in `Anna Salai' Road area are being harassed by scrap merchants and auto mechanics and those who bring huge lorry loads of scrap and auction them in the street itself.

Whenever we ring up 103 the message is received but the traffic police do not come to the help of the public.

Condemned vehicles are parked not only in this street but also in the surrounding areas. People who happen to pass by the street convert it into a toilet. The ONYX staff will be unable to clean the street as vehicles are parked for days together.

Viji Rajasabhai,

Anna Salai

Eliminate exploitation

Sir, — The fee for leaving a motor cycle at the Guindy railway station parking lot for a day is Rs. 2 and month is Rs. 50. But the contractor collects Rs. 3.50 and Rs. 70 respectively. But the prescribed fee is clearly mentioned in the receipt counterfoil and the display board. But when someone questions about the disparity the reply is abusive. The railway authorities should do away with this menace.

A.P. Selvakumar,

Ekkatuthangal

Congestion will increase

Sir, — A high-rise software park is coming up on Taylors Road, Kilpauk. With a proposed car park for 73 cars and two fast lifts with a capacity of 10 persons each, the number of occupants is bound to be huge and so also, the vehicles entering and leaving. As it is, this narrow junction is a severe bottleneck almost throughout the day, and despite the traffic signals, it is well nigh impossible for anyone to cross Taylors Road at peak hours. The commissioning of the software park in the near future will severely aggravate this situation, and senior citizens, women and children will be hard put to cope with it.

K.P. Mahalingam,

Kilpauk

Credibility at stake

Sir, — I went to the BSNL, Customer care centre in Flower Bazaar on March 31 to buy a India Telephone Card. The woman at the counter who did not have change for my 500 rupee note, asked to me get it from the official at the adjacent room. That gentleman suspected the genuineness of the currency note. He even refused to look at my driving licence, and bank cards, etc.

A.R. Dana Babu,

Royapettah

Unjustified

Sir, — When I went to pay road tax for my car, I was asked to remit the usual Rs. 800 and an additional "Green tax" of Rs. 1,000 as my car is more than 15 years old. Cars in use for over 15 years are required to get fitness certificate from the RTO every 5 years.

They are also obliged to obtain "pollution under control" certificate every six months like newer cars. In other words older cars are subjected to same regulations and there is no relaxation. Therefore the green tax levy on cars older than 15 years is highly discriminating and totally unjustified. It is also to be noted that old cars are owned by those who cannot afford new ones or later models.

Meenakshi Natarajan,

Adyar

CMWSSB reply

Sir, — With reference to a report in The Hindu of March 15 that the residents of First Link Street, R.R. Colony are facing acute water crisis, the Public Relations Manager, Mr. P. Swaminathan writes. It is informed that a syntex tank (9890A) has already been erected at 2nd cross street junction of First Link Street, R.R. Colony and water supply is being made daily through tanker lorry, which is sufficient to take care of drinking and cooking purposes of the residents of First Link Street, R.R. Colony.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• Orient Longman, Trinity College tie-up on English exam
• 3 ponds go dry in Guindy park
• Better catamarans for Chennai fishermen
• `Vehicle population contributing to respiratory diseases'
• Two fall victim to `biscuit bandit'
• Railways to hold enquiry
• Cash stolen
• Concern over negative fallout of move to amend banking law
• Around the City
• In Chennai Today
• Readers' Mail

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu