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

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 13, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Reporter's Diary

Flying high

Celebrations take different methods. Every political party tries to impress upon the public its organisational skills as part of celebrating any occasion. The unveiling of the reinstalled Kannagi statue on the Marina last week was no exception to this trend.

Literally, the DMK was flying high! As the function was near the beachfront, one could see kites sporting the DMK's colours flying over the venue, fluttering in the breeze. Even the string of kite carried the party's paper flags. These of course were in addition to the usual lights and illuminated cut-outs of party leaders.

Fire averted

Many regular customers of a petrol bunk on the Inner Ring Road, Anna Nagar West, were puzzled to find the lights switched off on Saturday night well before the closing time.

It was only after they saw a car being pushed out, did they realise the near miss of a major accident.

The car, which had just filled with petrol at the bunk, immediately caught fire reportedly due to a short circuit. But, the alertness of the petrol bunk staff and public, ensured that the blaze was put out quickly.

Commuters' inconvenience

It seems that commuters, who use the bus stops in front of Government hospitals, must suffer. People who waited for buses at the Government General Hospital endured the heat and the rain for many months until a new shelter came up. The latest is Kilpauk Medical College bus stop. The entire stretch from the Kilpauk Medical College men's hostel up to the hospital has been dug up. Unlike the subways in front of the GGH, the KMC hospital subway has a ramp also to transport sick patients on stretchers. The subways were built close to the hospitals to ensure that visitors did not dart across the Poonamallee High Road. Now, however, commuters stand on the road, in the hot sun and wait for buses.

Scant respect for signals

For the law-abiding motorists, the two signals on Kamarajar Salai near Vivekanandar Illam, pose a grave danger. On many occasions, this reporter has noticed that most of the vehicles, heading towards Parrys Corner or in the opposite direction, do not bother to stop when the signal is in red. In the absence of police personnel at this point, the situation worsens during evening hours.

It is essential that the City Traffic Police should post at least a couple of constables at this junction to book the violators.

Cattle pose traffic hazard

Work on the Chennai-Bangalore national highway has been delayed for a long time now. Adding to the problem created by the road works, there is another hazard for

the vehicle drivers. It is not uncommon to see cattle on the road median or sometimes on the busy carriageway (see photo).

There seems to be no solution to this problem on for several years now, say regular road users.

Contributions:

K.T. Sangameswaran,

K. Lakshmi, R. Sujatha and

P. Oppili

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