Bridge work delay irks North Chennai residents

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While South Chennai witnesses infrastructure development, the situation in congested North Chennai remains grim. The interior roads and bottlenecks continue to be neglected as is evident from the work on two bridges, which was taken up five years ago but is yet to be completed.

Activists lament that their complaints fall on deaf ears as the Railways and City corporation continue to pass the buck.

“The Stanley underbridge (SUB) project started in 2008 and is still incomplete because of the lethargic attitude of the Corporation and Railway authorities,” said M. Thuyamurthy.

“The Korukupet overbridge is a long-pending demand of residents of the area and when it is completed it would ease congestion in the highly populated Korukkupet,” he said and wondered why such undue delays never take place in upmarket south Chennai.

Traders and residents are disgruntled because of the slow progress of work. “I have to take longer routes because of the delay and as a result of the congestion you never know when you will reach your destination,” said A.V.S Marimuthu, a trader.

Railway sources maintained that they have completed their part of the construction of the Stanley underbridge and it was the corporation’s job to finish the rest. Railway officials promised that they would finish their part of construction work of Korukkupet overbridge by the end of August, well ahead of the civic body.

“The situation in north Chennai differs because of the high density of population. A half-an-hour delay would leave thousands stranded. We are doing our best to finish it. We are waiting for the 24-hour block to place the girders. We will finish it by August end,” said a railway official.

Corporation officials denied that there was delay and said that they would finish the work on the Stanley underbridge within two months. They also promised to speed up the construction of the Korukupet overbridge, as soon as the Railways finish their share of work.