Drainage lines in Anakaputhur, Pammal only by Sept

CHENNAI: Slated for completion early this year, the 200-crore underground drainage network project in Anakaputhur and Pammal in Tambaram Corporation has now been pushed back to September.
The corporation plans to lay pipelines on a 50-km stretch covering 389 streets in Anakaputhur and a 100-km stretch covering 877 streets in Pammal. They have also proposed to install machines to clean manholes at 2,212 places in Pammal and 768 places in Anakaputhur.
Corporation commissioner R Alagumeena said the project was initiated by Pammal municipality before it was merged with the newly formed corporation in 2021. However, work began in March 2022 after a delay of over 11 months. “Work was proposed to be completed within two years from award of the contract. We have asked contractors to prioritize quality and finish the work soon,” she said.
When TOI spoke to workers at Anakaputhur, they said change of contractors in the middle of the project has affected the schedule.
That apart, work on roads has become a daily nightmare for residents. “I was stuck in traffic for 45 minutes trying to drop my daughter to school,” Surya Dev Karan, a resident of Anakaputhur said. “Now, even the main road is dug up right in front of the school. It’s utter chaos during peak hours,” he added.
In Pammal, Rakesh S, an autorickshaw driver and resident of the area, said: “We are happy that the corporation is working on drainage networks but they should do something about the roads. They can’t leave it as it is.”
While residents have come to terms with the long wait, they want the corporation to ensure roads are re-laid properly. “We ask the workers to relay the roads after laying pipelines but we get complaints of poor quality of work. We will check and repave these roads in phases soon,” a senior engineer of the corporation said.