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

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 14, 2006
ePaper

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Reporter's Diary

Jinxed timers

What started with a bang ended in a whimper. This is perhaps the best description of the state of affairs of the timers fixed to traffic signals at some of the junctions. When the signals were introduced, it was announced that timers would be fixed for the motorists' convenience. But the functioning of the timers was unreliable at some of the signals, causing confusion. Worse still, policemen can be seen signalling manually even when the signals are on.

Security violations

Heightened security measures are in force at the Chennai airport following the Federal Bureau of Investigation's fresh warning about possible threats to Indian airports. Now the Airports Authority of India has sought the cooperation of travellers and people coming to see them off. Though there are clear instructions not to park any vehicles in front of the terminals for more than 90 seconds. Government cars continue to be parked there. Policemen continue to ignore the violation, to the anger of the public and the AAI authorities.

Pitch dark roads

Residents of Mogappair East have been complaining about the inconsistent way in which streetlights work in their area. Many of them attribute the increase in the number of chain snatching incidents around the area to the faulty streetlights. With the recent rains damaging most of roads,commuters battling potholes have to be extra-careful, add residents.

Share autos

At a bus stop in Nungambakkam, people waiting for share autos were heard complaining about the possible increase in share auto fares too, especially after the accident at Kancheepuram. "If share autos become as expensive as other auto rickshaws, we will end up paying a lot. The proposals to revise auto rickshaw fares are bogus and share autos came as a boon to people like us. Not anymore," a middle-aged office-goer was heard telling his friend.

(Contributions from

K.T. Sangameswaran, T.S. Shankar and

Meera Srinivasan)

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