Councillors complain about damaged bus route roads and rising risk of road accidents

Councillors have complained about the rising number of damaged bus route roads and increasing risk of road accidents, in view of the Northeast monsoon, that set in over Tamil Nadu on Thursday.

At the ward committee meeting this week, Ward 35 councillor S. Jeevan said the damaged stretch of Tondiarpet High Road had not been relaid. “The officials spoke about patch work repair of damaged bus route roads. That will only worsen the condition of the road during the monsoon. Moreover, the Northeast monsoon is likely to increase the risk of accidents on bad roads, particularly bus routes. We expected the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) to relay at least a few important bus routes before the onset of the Northeast monsoon,” Mr. Jeevan said.

Ward 104 councillor T.V. Shemmozhi said: “Anna Nagar 13^th Main Road has been damaged as buses and heavy vehicles have been diverted owing to Metro Rail work in the area.”  

Residents have complained about damaged stretches of bus routes, including Basin Elephant Gate Road, Korattur East Avenue, P.T. Rajan Salai, Indira Nagar First Avenue, and Vijayaraghava Road. 

They also pointed to a delay in the repair of roads dug up for Metrowater work, gas pipelines, and telecom service providers in some areas.

The GCC has restored bad roads in some areas. Federation of Thoraipakkam Residents Welfare Associations’ president A. Francis said many roads in the area had been relaid after they were dug up by various agencies.

Corporation Commissioner G.S. Sameeran said: “The GCC has identified 66 damaged bus route roads (45.13 km) for re-laying at an estimated cost of ₹77.73 crore. This work will be taken up under Chief Minister’s Integrated Urban Transformation Mission. In the first sanctioning committee, 58 bus route roads have been cleared and the Government Order is awaited soon.”