It’s a bumpy ride on posh Nungambakkam roads

Chennai

If auto drivers balk at driving into Appu Street, Nungambakkam, or Jayalakshmipuram, one can be sure that they have their reasons to stay away. Appu Street has only the remains of a tarred road from long ago. No driver wants his or her vehicle to bear the brunt of such deeply cranial surfaces.

Appu Street is off Valluvarkottam High Road, and Sumathi, a resident, who has to drop her son to the end of the badly damaged road to catch an auto, says, “The street has not been re-laid for years. What makes it worse is encroachment on either side of the road, like it was an unofficial dumping ground. Some have started disposing of scrap, including sharp objects, and so I have stopped letting my kids play there.”

Encroachments make for very insanitary conditions. “In the absence of a proper road, people from the adjoining streets don’t even use the dustbin to get rid of their waste, and even use the area as a toilet,” says S. Selvam, a resident of Appu Street. “Nungambakkam is one of the most sought after localities in the city but there exist stretches that are in dire need of attention.”

The state of Jayalakshmipuram’s 4th street is not too different, with water stagnating from the rain that fell two days ago. “The storm water drain is damaged. The entire stretch, which was landlocked during the December 2015 floods, was already in a bad state, and there has been no repair work done ever since. The situation is such that people who live here are forced to take detours; they are unable to utilise the road,” says  Gopalakrishnan, a resident.

The other streets of the same neighbourhood have been laid properly though. “We have made many requests to the authorities and when politicians came to us, asking for votes, we told them our plight, but there has been no difference,” says another resident.