The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : The mess on Umpherson Street

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 30, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

The mess on Umpherson Street

R. Srikanth

Huge mounds of sludge — and stink — greet visitors to the area Huge mounds of sludge — and stink — greet visitors to the area

ROAD MIRED IN PROBLEMS: Umpherson Street in George Town. — PHOTO: R. SHIVAJI RAO

CHENNAI: Umpherson Street, opposite Kuralagam and Madras High Court, is in a mess... pitted, pockmarked, potholed and cratered. Huge mounds of sludge — which produce an incredible stink — greet visitors to the street.

Dug up for desilting and renovating strormwater drains by the Chennai Corporation some time back, it was never set right again. A well-known wholesale and retail footwear bazaar, Umpherson Street is today struggling to come to terms with the messy conditions.

The work, which started three months ago, is yet to be completed and there seems to be no end to the people's misery, say residents and traders.

P.A.K. Mohammed Sulaiman, a resident, notes that the stench from the street extends over a kilometre.

More than 10 pits have been dug up on the middle of the road and mounds of sludge dumped on the road. Residents are unhappy that the desilting work is proceeding at such a slow pace.

A wholesale footwear shop owner, Mohammed Ansar, says his family members fell ill and had to be admitted in a hospital due to the poor conditions.

Shockingly, despite the poor conditions, he street has families several living on the roadside.

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