The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Water project works taking a toll on Mudichur Road

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Friday, May 22, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Water project works taking a toll on Mudichur Road

K.Manikandan

Sewage stagnation affecting road-users, residents

Photo: A.Muralitharan

Eyesore: Sewage stagnating on the margins of Mudichur Road recently. —

TAMBARAM: Stagnation of sewage on Mudichur Road, an arterial road linking Tambaram and Kancheepuram through several other areas, has been causing inconvenience to residents and motorists. The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board has been executing the massive Water Supply Improvement Works project in the Tambaram Municipality, estimated to cost around Rs.38 crore. The project’s components include creation of new sources on the dry bed of the Palar, additional storage capacities in different areas of the municipality and, more importantly, new main pipelines and feeder lines between the headworks and Tambaram.

As part of the main pipelines’ work, TWAD Board has been laying the main lines on the entire stretch of Mudichur Road connecting Mannivakkam and Tambaram at Grand Southern Trunk Road.

G.Suresh, a resident of Krishna Nagar, West Tambaram, said that they welcomed the water supply improvement project that would benefit close to 2 lakh people of Tambaram and others passing through this town. But, the works had taken a toll on Mudichur Road.

Problems were acute in Krishna Nagar, where sewage flowing through incomplete stormwater drains, adjacent to the road, is stagnating.

Engineers of the State Highways Department said that they carried out improvement works on this arterial road at a cost of nearly Rs.17 crore over the past two years. They included widening of the nearly eight-km-long stretch as a four-lane highway, strengthening of shoulders and providing medians along the stretch.

Highways engineers said that they were pained as the improvement works had been affected by road digging works by the TWAD Board. Engineers of the Board, however, clarified that damage to the road was minimum, adding that digging was done to complete the water supply improvement project, which was crucial to meet the drinking water requirements of nearly 2 lakh people of Tambaram.

They had paid Rs.1.8 crore to the Highways Department for road restoration works. On the entire stretch of Mudichur Road, only 11 gaps were left for fixing valves.

All the remaining works would be completed before the end of this month, the TWAD Board engineers said.

In a related development, officials of the State Highways Department said maintenance of Mudichur Road would be transferred from Chengalpattu Division to Chennai City Roads wing from June 1. Priority would be to carry out road restoration work and ensure smooth, two-way flow of traffic, which was now diverted at many points due to digging works.

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