Residents of many areas including Navalur in OMR, Gummidipoondi, Manali and Avadi are worried that trenches dug up to lay natural gas pipelines are yet to be closed or have not been covered properly. The trenches cause safety issues and take up road space.
Navalur resident Atish Kumar said that the work has been underway for over a year now and there seems to be no sight of the end of it. “We are already struggling with metro rail work and don’t have enough space on the road. The gas line is being laid on the service lanes where people turn to if the main carriageway is choked. Some time back my vehicle got stuck in one of the trenches and luckily a few passersby helped lift it out. I am afraid what will be the condition when the monsoon arrives. It is already raining,” he said.
Activist and Manali resident M. Mahalingam said that laying of main lines in Manali had been completed two years ago. However, the lines to homes were provided only subsequently, thus delaying the re-laying of roads. The Greater Chennai Corporation has been taking up repairs and some roads like Chinna Mathur Salai, Madhavaram Assisi Nagar Road and Mathur MMDA Road are yet to be restored. When it rains, and it has been raining in the evenings and nights, the roads become very slushy and when the mud dries, it is dusty, he said.
