[1]Thanks to the nexus between some politicians, corporation staff, police personnel and builders, the unmindful stacking of construction materials encroaching narrow road space has gone unchecked, resulting in grave hardships to residents.
The already crammed North Chennai streets have been severely affected by the mushrooming residential flats, for which construction materials are dumped on roads, resulting in accidents as vehicles skid because of the scattered sand particles.
Though this problem is not new, it has grown in the last few years owing to the trend of converting old houses into two-floor apartments.
A resident of ward 68 in Perambur, preferring anonymity, laments that the issue continues without any hindrance even after the problem was taken to the concerned zonal officer.
“Around 20 new flats are coming up in ward 68 alone. This problem of stacking sand, blue metal and bricks is found on almost all streets here, and several other streets in adjoining zones also endure the same hardships,” he points out, adding that the situation was worse during monsoon.
Though the police patrol team and corporation engineers are aware of the violation, builders continue to stack materials, encroaching roads, after reportedly bribing them.
“Children on bicycles and motorists are the most affected by scattered sand on roads,” says a civic activist in Ayanavaram, that has the same problem.
Meanwhile, builders say that they always ‘inform’ the concerned authorities. “They will not mind stacking blue metals along the roads as long as we ‘satisfy’ them,” says a North Chennai builder, who was summoned by the councillor before the construction started.
When asked, corporation commissioner Karthikeyan said action was being taken to remove the construction materials stacked on roads.
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/roadsandjpgcropdisplayjpg-641