Commuters demand widening of Kundrathur road

The 13-km long road passes through Pammal, Moongileri, Muthamil Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Anakaputhur, Balaji Nagar and Karaima Nagar. 

According to locals, the road was first laid as a single lane facility around 50 years ago. Although the area has now seen a vast development, the road which is just 7 metres wide has not been widened which results in heavy traffic. 

“If I need to visit a doctor for an appointment, even cabs are not willing to come to our area citing traffic congestion,” said A Srinivasan, a resident of Pammal. 

Residents and commuters have demanded the State Highways Department take steps to immediately upgrade the road into double lane. According to them, the road is chocked with vehicles almost throughout the day. 

“If a car or a lorry breaks down on the road, vehicles behind cannot move further till the stranded vehicle has been moved,” said former Pallavaram MLA P Dhansingh. “The road badly needs an upgrade. I took all possible measures and gave a lot of handwritten letters to the State highways regarding this but no action has been taken yet,” he said. 

When contacted, a senior official of the State Highways said work on upgrading the road to a double lane facility is in its initial stages. The state government had allocated Rs 1.5 crore for planning the road widening process. “Since both sides of the road have no encroachments and belong to registered parties, we have asked the revenue department to serve a notice on the people about this extension and allocate adequate compensation for them,” the official said.