The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Reporter's Diary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 10, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Reporter's Diary

Bad roads

One can't but heave a sigh of relief when one hears that Chennai Corporation plans to start road works later this month. Frankly, the city has had enough of bad roads to last a long while.

While the condition of non-arterial roads and those in the suburbs has always been questionable, it is the turn of main roads now to resemble the surface of the moon. Rukmini Lakshmipathy Road in Egmore, once a smooth stretch, now looks like a war zone with its craters and potholes.

The traffic jam closer to the Egmore Traffic island only makes matters worse. Arguments between motorists negotiating the ups and downs on this road are a common sight.

Scramble for a seat

It is virtually a stampede by commuters at the ICF terminus on some days during the morning peak hours to board buses on route 47-A (ICF-Besant Nagar). MTC authorities say there is no reduction of services. True or not, it is not uncommon to find a big crowd literally ambushing a bus when it approaches the terminus. Women and the elderly are the worst hit.

The other ordeal faced by the commuters is the presence of more than one vehicle on the same route.

As commuters do not know which bus leaves first, it is their running ability alone which determines who gets in first.

Transformer upgrade

The Electricity Board has begun the work of upgrading distribution transformers in various areas of Chennai. Taken up at a cost of about Rs. 28 crore, the first phase will cover nearly 400 transformers. Initially, the transformers located on main bus-route roads are being upgraded. The first such transformer near Pachaiyappa's college (see picture) will be commissioned on Monday. Official sources say that 60 per cent of faults in power supply arise due to snags in structures supporting the transformers which are exposed. Under the modernisation scheme, the structures will be in sealed units. This will make the operations trouble-free, the sources say.

(Contributed by

Ramya Kannan,

K.T. Sangameswaran and

T. Ramakrishnan.)

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