The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Tambaram road set for makeover

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Thursday, Jul 14, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Others

Tambaram road set for makeover

K. Manikandan

MES Road connects Velachery Main Road to Air Force station After talks, the IAF agreed to hand over Camp Road and MES Road to the municipality for improvements at the latter's cost

Awaiting relaying work: The MES Road at East Tambaram which is to be blacktopped. Photo: A. Muralitharan

TAMBARAM: One more road belonging to the Defence Ministry in Tambaram Municipality will be relaid, this time by the local body itself. The MES Road, connecting the Velachery Main Road with the southern end of the sprawling Indian Air Force station, is to be blacktopped. Tenders are likely to be called soon for the project, expected to cost about Rs. 16 lakhs.

Three roads — MES Road, Agaram Road and Camp Road — were laid by the IAF in the 40s to provide connectivity to the base with other areas of Tambaram. While the Agaram Road, also known as Air Force Station Road, has always been maintained in an excellent condition, the two other roads were in a shambles for several years. Residents had been demanding the relaying of the Camp Road and MES Road for years now. Last year, the Tambaram Municipality took up the issue with IAF authorities. The IAF told the Municipality that when the roads were originally laid in the 1940s, there were not many residential localities around.

Now thousands live around the IAF base. The Agaram Road continued to be the main link to the IAF base, while Camp Road and MES Road were used mostly by civilians only, the authorities added. Hence, the IAF was not in a position to relay the road. But after several rounds of intensified talks in October last, the IAF agreed to hand over Camp Road and MES Road to the Municipality for improvements. In November last, South Chennai Lok Sabha MP and Union Minister, T.R. Baalu set apart Rs. 21 lakhs from his Constituency Development Fund for cement topping the Camp Road, said A. Janakiraman, Tambaram Municipality's Vice-Chairman. The cement road was laid and lamps erected.

MES Road is one of the congested stretches in East Tambaram as there are a half-dozen schools located on this road. It also connects several localities of Irumbuliyur with Tambaram railway station. The works to be taken up include laying a bitumen-topped road and construction of storm water drains to discharge rainwater into Irumbuliyur lake.

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