The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Reader's Mail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 07, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Reader's Mail

Streets without names

Alwar Thirunagar Annexe is a residential colony formed as early as in 1970 covering eight stretches of streets, comprising about 430 households. Unfortunately none of the streets in the colony bears a name and houses are still located with reference to Plot numbers as assigned in the layout plan in a haphazard manner. In the absence of street names, house door numbers given by the Corporation of Chennai add to the confusion as the numbers are not in sequential order. It is a Herculean task for courier agencies and others, particularly call-taxis who cannot locate the houses easily.

The plight of the residents has been brought to the notice of the corporation authorities and the elected representatives, but to no avail. Through this column, we ask the authorities concerned to approve the street names suggested by the residents welfare association or to assign names of their choice and display the signboards prominently, without further delay.

President,
Alwar Thirunagar Annexe Residents Welfare Association

Poor roads, not enough lights

Valarmathi Nagar Extension, a thickly populated residential area in Madhavaram Municipality, lacks even basic amenities. The streets, already in a poor state, have now become unusable because of stagnant water. Also, there are not enough streetlights in the area.

R. Singaravelan,
Valarmathi Nagar Extn Residents' Association,
Vinayagapuram

MTC bus route No.15C

MTC bus route No.15C was plying between Loyola College and Parrys corner via Nelson Manickam Road and Poonamallee High Road for over 35 years. But this service was abruptly withdrawn nine years ago. One single trip of route No.15C is run to Secretariat in the morning at about 9-15 a.m., and there it ends. Our repeated representations to restore the service have been of no avail. Between Choolaimedu junction and Poonamallee High Road junction (previously Arun Hotel) there are eleven residential colonies; the MTC authorities advanced the plea of `No patronage for withdrawing the service, which is far from the truth. The residents on both sides of Nelson Manickam Road and adjoining areas now face hardship in getting to Aminjikarai, KMC Hospital, Egmore station, General Hospital, Central Railway Station and Parrys Corner.

We ask the MTC authorities to restore the service in the interests of commuters.

C. Joseph,
Secretary
Railway Colony Residents' Welfare Association, Aminjikarai.

Dead ends

I wish to highlight the difficulty in accessing the streets within Chozhavaram Nagar, Chromepet. Our colony has only a handful of streets, and a majority of them are dead ends, thus rendering accessibility within difficult. Adding to the woes of the residents, the office of Chozhavaram Nagar Women's Association, which has not been registered as on date, has encroached upon one of the streets, thus blocking the way between Chozhavaram Nagar and Veerasamy Nagar.

I urge the authorities to take cognisance of this request and take immediate action in the best interest of residents of both the colonies.

Vaidhyanathan L.,
Chromepet

No amenities

The residents of Sri Balaji Nagar, Padikuppam Road, Annanagar West, Chennai of more than 100 flats have been living without basic amenities in the form of tarred roads, piped water supply, garbage clearance and proper drainage system for the last 7-8 years (Downtown, 30-4-2006) Repeated representations have been made to the Ambattur Municipality and elected representatives but to no avail as on date. I appeal to the Ambattur Municipality to redress our grievances at the earliest.

Vinu Nayar
Anna Nagar West

Bus shelters

There are five bus stops between Pallavaram and Chromepet on both sides of GST Road: Chromepet GH, MIT LC, Chromepet Bus Stand, ESI Hospital, Lakshmi Theatre. Except the bus stop near Chromepet Railway Station, the other stops have no shelter. Earlier, these stops had shelters, but during the widening of GST Road and construction of the MIT overbridge, the shelters were removed by the Highways department. After completion of work, the shelters were not reconstructed. In the absence of the shelters, the commuters at the bus stops are exposed to the hot sun. Will the Pallavaram Municipality and MTC come forward to put up the bus shelters and mitigate the suffering of the public?

V. Santhanam
President
Chromepet New Colony Residents Welfare Society

TNEB thanked

Your articles on TNEB in the edition of May 1 were both informative and exhaustive.

I take this opportunity to thank and congratulate the officials and team of TNEB — Mogappair East for their prompt action in carrying out various improvements in TVS Colony, TVS Avenue and Officers' Colony well before the onset of the summer to minimise occurrence of faults. All the worn out underground cables have been replaced with new ones connected to mini pillars at regular intervals for easy detection of faults. Our long pending demand of converting a portion of overhead lines to underground cable system has also been met with. The 250 KV transformer in TVS Colony has been upgraded to 500 KV and an additional 250 KV transformer has been installed to reduce the power load. The long pending issue of converting the present Mogappair East office into a sub station has been delayed as the Department is unable to find an alternate place to shift the present office from premises.

V. Rajagopal,
President

Annanagar Western Extension (Phase II)
Residents Welfare Association

Restore bus route halts

I wish to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to the regrettable fact that there is no bus service between Hasthinapuram and Tambaram. During the construction of the road over bridge near MIT, buses on routes 52-B, 52-C etc were plying via Tambaram touching en route Tambaram Sanatorium, Chitlapakkam. This was very convenient for the residents, especially senior citizens, school/college students. After the ROB was declared open these buses do not touch Chitlapakkam, Tambaram and use the ROB to join the GST road. For those who do not own vehicles of their own, it becomes an ordeal with auto fares so exorbitant.

It would be helpful if the buses are made to run, as before, via Chitlapakkam and Tambaram. A few cut services between Hasthinapuram and Tambaram would also be very helpful.

K.A. Gopalakrishna Sharma,
Chromepet

Closure of Post Office

The Post Office at Vellala Street, Chennai-600084 (Purasawalkam) is serving the needs of nearly 30-40,000 within a radius of half kilometre for more then sixty years.

Most of the senior citizens have deposited their money in this post office. It is convenient for them to make transactions here.

It is now learnt that the authorities are planning to close down this office for no reason, putting the public into lot of difficulty, as there is no other post office within a distance of 2 kilometres. As such, to reach the other post office one has to shell out Rs. 40 to 50 towards auto rickshaw charges every time, especially the senior citizens.

It is very much surprising that instead of improving the existing facilities, the Government wants to curtail them. I request the authorities to reconsider the drop the idea.

B. Srinivasan,
Purasawalkam

Haphazard parking

The haphazard parking of MTC buses and private buses of IT firms proceeding towards Saidapet, near the entrance to Guindy overbridge, besides unauthorised parking of share-autos disrupts, free flow of traffic more during peak hours. Will the authorities do the needful at the earliest?

M. V. Saranath,
Ullagaram

Subway work at Jones Road

The subway work on the Jones Road Railway Crossing in Saidapet was begun around two years ago. But within a few days of starting, the work was suspended after the removal of about 100 cubic meters of earth.

When this issue was raised in The Hindu (Downtown) Oct. 29, 2006, it was stated that the delay was due to the presence of sewage and other pipelines beneath the pit. Immediately after that, the agency concerned started the work of diverting these water/sewage lines but again stopped the work abruptly in January `07.

It appears that no proper co-ordination exists between the Railways and other agencies like Metrowater. It is surprising that the authorities can start the subway work without preliminary investigation and proper planning and suspend the work at the drop of a hat.

V. R. Sundaram
Saidapet West

Preserve playgrounds

Playgrounds and parks are the lungs of the city, and places where residents can get some fresh air and exercise. It is essential that Government should secure all the available playgrounds and parks for the use of the public.

V. Sivarajan,
Adambakkam

Not at all fast

Due to the snail's progress in providing additional infrastructure and railway lines, the fast electric trains operated between Tambaram and Beach Station are running late; they are stopped at Chetpet for more than 10-15 minutes every day for reasons that not known, despite the additional platforms put up recently. This defeats the very purpose of operating fast trains.

When compared to Mumbai Central Railway, where electric trains are operated with huge traffic with the same 4 lines, the operations at Chennai are meagre and not up to the mark.

Will the Railway authorities do something to guard against such delays and unnecessary halts at Chetpet at least now?

R. Chandrasekaran
West Mambalam

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