The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Erratic water supply, power problems and poor roads… a zoneful of woes

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Friday, Jun 27, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Erratic water supply, power problems and poor roads… a zoneful of woes

K. Manikandan

The population growth in Alandur Municipality creates demand for massive amenity projects

— Photo: A. Muralitharan

APACE: Work in progress to link the GST Road with Thillaiganga Nagar subway.

TAMBARAM: Alandur Municipality, among the biggest and oldest suburban agglomerations in south Chennai, is well known among local body administrators and urban planners all over the country for being a pioneer in executing the underground drainage network on the ‘public-private partnership’ model.

Constituted as a municipality by bringing together five villages — Alandur, Adambakkam, Nanganallur, Pazhavanthangal and Talakanancheri in 1964 , it is now a Selection Grade Municipality with 42 wards and a population of 1.46 lakh people. The local body today presents a mix of both the old and the new. Bungalows, built several decades ago, and traditional houses are still intact in pockets of Alandur and St. Thomas Mount and share space with swanky complexes.

Located close to Chennai airport and the city’s nerve centre, it became one of the preferred centres for people to settle down outside the city limits from the 1970s. The growth in population has seen demand for basic amenities and massive infrastructure projects.

Today, the local body has in place an elaborate underground drainage network executed with contributions from residents and probably the most number of subways. One of the first local bodies outside Chennai to implement the sewer project, it faced severe teething problems, including reverse flow of sewage from the main pumping station at Nilamangai Nagar. Despite the project, total sanitation is not ensured as patches of sewage stagnating in the open can be seen at some spots.

With a large number of people visiting Nanganallur, which is dotted with temples, hygiene takes a beating, a concern that the local body has been trying to address totally.

The subways at St. Thomas Mount, Pazhavanthangal and Thillaiganga Nagar have been a boon as well as a bane. While the subways ensure quick connectivity , they are filled with water during monsoon . Movement of vehicles comes to a standstill for several days during that period forcing motorists to pass through level-crossings near Guindy or Meenambakkam to reach Grand Southern Trunk Road.

Once part of the combined Palar water supply scheme, along with Pallavaram, Alandur Municipality preferred to delink from it and sought water from Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board instead.

Municipal Chairman R. S. Bharathi said the decision was taken by the council years ago, keeping in mind the long-term needs of the residents. And like any other local body in the suburbs, the daily supply of water has always been below the actual requirements. Even today, in tail-end areas, residents complain of erratic supply.

The poor condition of roads has always given room for complaints to residents and angry councillors . Even the official website of the local body states that the condition of roads is far from satisfactory. Power supply is another front where residents are thoroughly disappointed. Nanganallur residents even stormed an office of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board recently.

More than 70 tonnes of garbage is generated in the local body, which includes a market that is about two centuries old. Garbage finds its way into a dumping ground in Pallikaranai. The local body, in the forefront of implementing several innovative schemes, continues to adopt conventional methods in collection and disposal.

The pressing problem faced by a cross-section of residents in Alandur is inadequate transport facilities. There are just a few routes covered by the skeleton services of Metropolitan Transport Corporation and residents of Pazhavanthangal, Nanganallur and Adambakkam have for a long time been urging the State government to permit the operation of share-autorickshaws.

Though they have made their representations at the highest levels on more than one occasion, there has been little progress. Members of the United Forum of Nanganallur Welfare Associations wondered why they were given step-motherly treatment as share-autorickshaws operated in almost all regions in the southern suburbs. Though there were bus termini at Hindu Colony and NGO Colony in Adambakkam, people had to trek fairly long distances uncovered by MTC services and hence the need for share-autorickshaws, they said.

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