Shastry V. Mallady Shastry V. Mallady
 Online edition of India's National Newspaper Monday, Jan 07, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Tamil Nadu
On the formation of Tiruvallur district after bifurcation of Kanchipuram district, almost all government offices have been shifted to Tiruvallur district headquarters, except the office of the District Registrar. Even after the lapse of five years, the office is yet to be shifted to Tiruvallur. As a result, people have been put to a great deal of inconvenience in registering lands, houses, welfare associations, and credit societies. Authorities are requested to do the needful. N.B.S. Manian, Secretary, Residents Welfare Association Manavalanagar Re-lay bad roadsThe stretch of the Kamarajar Salai upto the Corporation limit in Ramapuram has not been re-laid for long. The buses belonging to a private university and tipper lorries pass through this road which has more potholes. Riders of vehicles, especially two-wheelers, find it difficult to negotiate through this road. Pedestrians face the danger of hitting the vehicles which are driven haphazardly to avoid the ditches. This is the condition of several bylanes also. Autorickshaw drivers either demand more money or refuse to come inside, citing the bad condition of roads in Ramapuram. More funds are being allotted each year for developmental works in panchayats and municipalities. I request the Government to allot more funds, if required, to re-lay the roads properly with tar top as early as possible. B. Venugopal, Ramapuram Quick responseIn response to my letter published in these columns (December 24), the Chennai Corporation has provided name boards for all streets in Sastri Nagar, Adyar. The quick response by the authorities shows the popularity of the ‘Readear’s Mail’ column. I wish to thank the Corporation. P.V. Srinivasan, Sastri Nagar Ply more ordinary busesMost of the commuters, who travel between Tambaram and Poonamallee or Tambaram and Tiruverkadu, happen to be daily wage earners and people belonging to lower and middle class families, who cannot afford to spend, on an average, Rs. 25 a day for commuting in deluxe buses which have almost replaced ordinary or Express services. The members of the public are forced to pay more than what they can. As the deluxe buses do not provide much comfort in the least, they can be replaced by ordinary or Express services. N. Ramachandran Polichalur EPF pensionI have been an Employee Provident Fund (EPF) pensioner since 2003. This EPF pension scheme for industrial people was launched in 1995 by the Union Labour Ministry, replacing the 24-year-old family pension scheme. About three million people benefit, drawing an EPF pension roughly ranging from Rs. 350 to Rs. 1000 a month after superannuation. The corpus fund for the scheme is operated by the Union Labour Ministry by diverting 8.33 per cent out of 12 per cent, contributed by the employer, to the employee and the remaining 3.67 per cent is credited to the employee’s provident fund account. The pension amount is fixed according to the employee’s contribution period 12 years ago. As most of the EPF pensioners are senior citizens, they find it difficult to meet the family expenses or even their personal needs from their meagre pension amount. I request the Union Labour Ministry under whom the EPF pension is granted to re-fix the pension amount or declare a reasonable relief in their next budget for 2008-2009. T. S. Raja Raman Palavanthangal State of MTC busesThe state of most of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses are pathetic and deplorable. I understand that they have been serving too long with no refurbishment and they lack the basic maintenance. I have seen a few air-conditioned buses running and they seem to be clean and neat as of date. But I am certain that they too will join the other ill-maintained buses if they are not properly taken care of. If the Government can lease out the three sides of all these buses to a private advertisement company, which will be monitored by a panel of eminent people . The painting and cleaning of buses can be made part of the contract the company signs. This will fetch the government a lot of revenue and automatically the buses will look neat and good. The seat covers of buses can also be changed daily by the advertisement company. Shivaraman Ravi Over e-mail Streetlights not burning I am a resident (senior citizen) of Valmiki Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur. I have, for the past two months, been trying to draw the attention of the Chennai Corporation at Ripon Buildings, and the Area X office of the Chennai Corporation (Tiruvanmiyur comes under this area) to the unsatisfactory working condition of the sodium vapour streetlights on the First, Second, Third, Fourth Seaward Roads and the main arterial Kottivakkam Kuppam Road. In addition, one or two of the streetlight poles have been vandalised, broken by passing cars or damaged by cable TV men fixing cable TV wires. (Many people use these roads to avoid the ever busy ECR, which is close by). Most of the streetlight bulbs are either fused or experience low voltage and time out frequently. It is difficult to see the road as there is heavy vehicular traffic. If there is light on these roads at night, it is mainly from the compound wall lights of the houses and apartments in the area. Everytime I call the Corporation office, I am either listened to politely and told that things will be set right in two days, or get a rude reply and told not to go on being a nuisance. Emails to the Corporation Public Relations Officer (pro@chennaicorporation. com) and The Commissioner, Chennai Corporation (commissioner@ chennaicorporation.com) highlighting this problem have not been answered till now. I was also told recently after one of my numerous phone calls that the ADE in charge of Zone 10 (Mobile Number 9444128902) is on long leave and that the ADE of Zone 9 (Saidapet) is in charge. All mobile numbers of the engineers are either switched off or busy most of the time. When one picks up the landline telephones at the Adyar Office of Zone 10 (Ph: 2442 5963, 2442 5961) they either ring continuously or there is a fax tone. The staff at the Complaint Cell — Streelights, Ripon Buildings, (Ph: 25384530/ 25384670, 25383694) are always optimistic in their answers. In fact I feel silly after talking to them. I request action to be taken. We want a safer neighbourhood. K.M. Krishna, Tiruvanmiyur Road encroachmentThe railway border road on the eastern side of the Mambalam Railway Station is back to square one. Every inch of the area is encroached upon, leaving very little space for pedestrians and commuters. The situation becomes unmanageable during evening hours when there is a rush of passengers. People literally jostle for space to come out of this area. It may be recalled that based on a public interest litigation filed by the Madley Road Civic Exnora, the Madras High Court directed the local traffic police to evict the hawkers and also streamline the shops selling vegetables. Following this, the police swung into action and kept the area free from encroachments. For a month or so, because of strict vigil by the police, the area remained hurdle-free. It is not known why the authorities have loosened their grip and allowed the situation to come to such a pass. Does not such callous attitude of the authorities amount to contempt of court? The court should take suo moto notice and haul them over the coals for their inaction. V. S. Jayaraman, T.Nagar Twowheeler parking feeThe two-wheeler parking fee at the Chennai Central Railway Station is currently Rs. 6 for 12 hours or part thereof. A majority of two-wheeler riders use this facility for about two hours. While the fee is fixed by the contractor for 12 hours, it is only imaginary and not required by the user. The authorities are requested to fix the parking fee on hourly basis. M. K. Raghavan, Kondithoppu Signboards for dead-end roadsBoth the city and suburbs have a number of dead-end streets. Some such roads are long and some short. When a stranger enters the cul-de-sacs either by vehicle or on foot in search of an address, he has to return disappointed as the other end is a dead end. It would be helpful if a suitable signboard is installed at the entrance to such dead-end streets. J. Manohar Singh Adambakkam. Additional booking counterOn New Year Day, there was a heavy rush at the Chromepet Railway Station booking counter and tickets were issued from only one counter. As a result, I had to miss three trains and could board the Inter-city Express train at the last minute. Will the authorities make arrangements to open more counters, at least during festival holidays? R. Krishnan Chromepet.
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