‘Construction material on roads is a nuisance authorities hardly act upon’

D Rajagopalan, a resident, said, “We used to wake up to dust and loading and unloading of material during odd hours. Sometimes the contractor used to empty the material transported to the spot like sand and gravel closer to the road, outside the premises.” 

He added, “As the site is next door, without any cover, we would be choking over the dust that rose up during construction. A couple of times, we had to fight with the contractor and warn him about serious consequences.” 

A source at the Greater Chennai Corporation says that as part of the general enforcement, the permission is given to owners for constructing within their premises, without hindering public movement and causing nuisance to neighbours. 

“As part of our solid waste management, when we get a complaint from a neighbourhood, we warn the party. In case, they continue to pose problems, we seize the material,” said the source. Another official at the zonal level, added that such complaints are extremely common. “We get it uniformly across zones. We also come up with penalties, depending on the magnitude of the violation,” he said. 

But, a few like Ramakrishnan in RA Puram, said that often they don’t want to complain in case they must face a similar situation. “There was a time when all of us were redeveloping our property. Today, I have a problem because of my neighbour. Tomorrow my neighbour will have a problem, when I do the same. I would rather adjust with it,” he said. 

A resident of Pammal, on the condition of anonymity, points out that despite rules, there is poor enforcement. “When there is a construction underway, we find contractors dumping the material on the middle of the road. These could be dangerous for those on vehicles. Despite several requests, they do nothing about it. We are told that they have tacit understanding with the local councilor and the police,” he said. 

But the police maintain that formal complaints are acted upon. “We get complaints often from neighbours about building contractors encroaching on roads and streets with construction material. We inspect the place and ask them to remove the material. We too have the power to seize the material, if they continue to violate the rules,” said K Devaraj, inspector, MGR Nagar.