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

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 14, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Reader's Mail

Risky crossings on GST Road

There are 3 or 4 crossings beyond Tambaram on the GST Road to Trichy, which introduce an element of risk. The Government is constructing bridges and fly-overs near Kathipara, Chennai airport and Pallavaram to ease congestion on GST Road.

In view of the lakhs of vehicles plying on this road, the fly-over opposite the Airport should be extended beyond Tambaram to cover the crossings, or the authorities go in for 2-tier system along the GST Road.

Meanwhile, rash driving by lorries has to be drastically curbed by the traffic police with severe punishment to the erring drivers. Providing an exclusive lane for buses and bus bays may be considered for smooth flow of traffic. Further, enforcing lane discipline will help greatly. Also, overtaking should be prohibited, as it is a cause of accidents. Will the traffic authorities take remedial steps wherever possible?

D.Natarajan,

Nanganallur

Science centre needs sprucing up

On May 4, I went to the Periyar Science & Technology Centre along with children hoping that the trip would be of benefit to the school-going children. But my hope was in vain. The centre collects exorbitant entrance fees. It has a barren look with a few photos of Periyar with some leaders adorning the walls, perhaps to maintain the name of the centre! Most of the equipment is out of order.

The adjacent park has no shelter or seating facilities, not even drinking water; there is no meaning in calling it a park. Thousands of people visit the place with children and it is unfair to cheat them like this. Urgent action is necessary.

I.S. Srinivasan,

T.V.K. Nagar

Reinstall post box in Triplicane

There used to be a post box near the Arch at Triplicane High Road, which was very convenient for people like me living in Triplicane. A few months back it was suddenly removed, putting all of us into a lot of inconvenience. I request the authorities to restore the box immediately.

H. Madhusudhan,

Triplicane

Railway level crossings

In the Chennai-Arakkonam sector, there is heavy rail traffic; as a result of this, most of the railway gates are closed and the local residents find it difficult to cross the railway tracks. In Korattur, Ambattur, Avadi, Pattabiram Railway level crossings should be converted into subways to ensure free movement of light vehicles.

Mr. R. Velu, Railway Minister, has promised to construct a subway at Ambattur Railway level crossing Lc 6, but till date no construction work has been taken up at Ambattur Level Crossing.

Recently the Railway Minister announced that all the unmanned LC from Kancheepuram to Chengalpet will be converted into subways. Will the Minister do the same for the Chennai-Arakkonam Sector?

T. Gunaseelan,

Ambattur

Ensure train runs on time

The ADB-14 service running from Avadi to Chennai Beach in the morning is running late every day, which causes great hardship to the passengers as well as commuters. It is reported that the train departs Avadi Station only after the arrival and departure of Tirupathi to Chennai local train. It is not correct on the part of the railway authorities to give priority to a long distance local over other trains.

The railway authority should ensure that the ADB-14 runs on time in the interest of commuters.

R. Natarajan,

Chennai-82

A motorists' nightmare

The GST Road at Chromepet is highly accident-prone. Not a day passes without a fatal accident. Ever since Chromepet-Pallavaram was brought under the control of city police, there is a marked improvement of traffic management on GST Road. But it is not enough. The Joint Police Commissioner of Traffic should inspect the GST Road — Chromepet frequently, and find out for himself the traffic congestion. The traffic police should arrange for installation of automatic signals near Vaishnav College gate and near MIT Bridge on GST Road.

The present strength of the department is grossly inadequate and should be increased. All pedestrian crossings (CLC Works Road, Chromepet Rail Station, MIT Bridge and Telephone Exchange) should have a traffic constable on both the sides of the road.

The traffic police should conduct road safety campaigns and rally and educate public about road safety.

V. Santhanam,
president,
Chromepet New Colony RWS,
Chromepet

Hassles in getting Life Certificate

There are thousands of pensioners in Chennai City, of whom I am one. We have to submit a Life Certificate every April.

The Life Certificate used to be signed by the Manager of the Bank who knows the pensioner well.

This year they have introduced a new system of an application with the latest photo of the pensioner; and no vehicle is allowed inside the compound of the Pension Office. These restrictions put the pensioners to a lot of suffering.

The Life Certificate endorsed by the Bank Manager should be enough. The Life Certificate dropped in the relevant box kept inside the Pension Office should be treated as valid. The presence of the pensioner in the Pension Office should not be insisted upon as many may not be in a position to go there due to health problems.

P. Kothandarama Swamy

K.P. Puram, Chennai

Indiscriminate parking of vehicles

The stretch of Sardar Patel Road, Adyar, near the Gokul Arcade and Janaki Pharmacy is quite congested.

Two wheelers, cars and share autos that are parked here hinder pedestrian movement. Autorickshaws also compete for space.

My representations to the traffic constables on duty have yielded no results. My suggestion is to make this into a `No Parking' zone. I request the traffic police authorities to act on this urgently.

K.S. Venkitanathan,

Chennai - 20

Lack of street names

There are no street names in "Manali New Town," which was formed as a satellite town three decades ago. Houses have to be identified with Block and Plot numbers, which makes it very difficult for outsiders to locate addresses in the area.

This town is already suffering without proper transport and basic amenities like pucca tar roads and regular maintenance of drainage systems.

At least provision of street names will improve the image of this town. Will the authorities concerned look into the matter?

S. Sekar,

Chennai - 103

Let autos fix their own rates

An auto stand has been allowed in the service lane of Anna Salai in front of the TVS Motors to `serve' the people as per the wording of Commissioner of Police painted on the stand notice board. Previously, because of the fear of police personnel, the autos tried not to linger in the area, which is also a No Parking area and charged the passengers reasonable fares. Now the fleecing is legalised. Stand auto drivers demand unreasonable fares in full view of police officials who are busy charging hapless two wheelers for the slightest lane deviation.

The stand auto drivers do not allow other autos to pick up passengers.

If the Government is unable to enforce the new fares, it might as well allow the autorickshaws to fix their own charges, just like the call taxis, so that public at least have the satisfaction of paying according to meter.

S. Sankar,

West Mambalam

Milk booth serves no purpose

An Aavin Milk Booth (No.243) is situated on the corner of Nalla Thambi Street and Parthasarathy Swami Lane in Triplicane (Near Gosha Hospital).

For many years now, the booth is not used for milk distribution as well as for issuing of milk cards and the milk and milk cards are distributed in the Nalla Thambi Street itself.

Now the booth is fully rusted and used as a dustbin. Because of this, some anti-social elements are misusing this booth and throwing away used liquor bottles etc. There are scores of huge rats in the booth.

The booth is a hindrance to the flow of traffic since it is situated on the junction of two streets. Even though several requests were made to the Aavin Office and the Corporation Councillor to remove this unused booth, no action has been taken to remove the booth so far.

I request the concerned authorities to remove the booth forthwith.

M. Deivasigamani,

Triplicane

Revision of auto fares

On 24-4-2007, I wanted to take an auto from Besant Nagar to West Mambalam. I would like to narrate my experience of the highhandedness of the auto drivers. When I asked the first auto driver whether he would come to West Mambalam, he said yes; but when I requested him to switch on the meter, he replied that if I gave him Rs. 2,000/- he would replace the meter and take me to West Mambalam.

The second driver with a new meter refused to switch on the meter saying that the cable was cut. The third auto driver with a new meter demanded Rs. 90. The fourth auto driver with an old meter demanded Rs. 100.

I have travelled from Saravana Stores, Usman Road in an auto with a newly calibrated meter, and the fare showed only Rs. 50/-.

It is clear that the situation has not changed even after the revision of auto fares, with the auto drivers flouting the rules and unwilling to operate their vehicles under the revised fares.

Dr. P. Sriram,

Besant Nagar

Postal Department clarification

Chitlapakkam Panchayat Board building in which the Chitlapakkam Post Office is functioning for more than 30 years is in a dilapidated condition. Several efforts were made for the past year by this office to shift the post office to a more suitable building but in vain.

Hence appeals were floated among the public welfare associations and Panchayat authorities to offer a suitable building to house the Chitlapakkam office.

As a result the Chitlapakkam Town Panchayat authorities have offered to renovate the existing building and in the meantime offered to accommodate the post office on the first floor of the community hall building, which is near the existing post office building.

We would like to therefore inform the public that there is no proposal now for relocation/merger of Chitlapakkam Sub Post Office with any nearby Post Office.

We would also like to inform the public that a proposal for construction of a departmental building at the vacant site in Chitlapakkam has been taken up at a higher level.

A. Govindarajan,
Senior Superintendent of Post Offices,
Tambaram Division,
Tambaram-600045

CMWSSB clarification

This is with reference to the letter from Thiru V.R. Sundaram, Saidapet West, published in your daily dated 7-05-2007 regarding delay in completing the subway work at the Jones Road Railway level crossing.

We would like to point out in this regard that the diversion of underground water and sewer mains on the western side has been completed except interconnection work with the existing water main, one near Railway gate and the other near Temple tank.

The work was delayed to obtain permission from the Railways to dismantle the compound wall near the Railway gate.

Moreover the Karaneeswarar Temple authorities have asked that no pit be kept open during the festival.

Hence after completion of the festival, the work has commenced and the diversion work is scheduled to be completed before the second week of May 2007.

D. Narasimha Reddy,
Public Relations Manager,
CMWSSB,
Chennai - 600002

Bus link to Chengalpattu

Sixty per cent of bus commuters from Chengalpattu to Chennai are bound for the central and northern parts of Chennai. MTC buses leaving Broadway run only up Guduvanchery; TNSTC buses run only up to Tambaram and Koyambedu.

The long pending demand of the people of Chengalpattu is a direct link to Broadway. I request the transport authorities to arrange to extend either the E18 route of MTC up to Chengalpattu or T60 route of TNSTC (Villupuram) up to Broadway.

The above extension will be a boon to residents of Chengalpatu. There may be a problem in terms of the distance fixed by MTC for operation of services, but Chengalpattu is only 2 km longer than 50 km range fixed by MTC buses.

S. Malarvannan

Teynampet

Bus shelters

No action has been taken either by the MTC authorities or by the Chennai Corporation authorities to provide bus shelters wherever necessary, despite repeated appeals. To cite only a few, Brindavan Street bus stop in West Mambalam and Thambiah Road (Extn.), which is a regular stop for Route No.12C bound for Mylapore, have no shelters.

The pity is that there is a bus shelter on the opposite side of this stop for the same route, viz. 12C.

I appeal to the MTC authorities to act swiftly and put up shelters.

S. Jayabalan

West Mambalam

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