Foot bridge escalators don’t work on GST Road, putting pedestrians to hardship

Purpose lost: The disfunctional escalator of the foot bridge at Tambaram Sanatorium.
| Photo Credit: B. VELANKANNI RAJ

The escalator of the foot bridge on GST Road, near the Madras Export Processing Zone, has not been working for days. The escalator of the foot bridge near the Chromepet railway station does not work too. The GST Road has become congested between Pallavaram and Tambaram. To help senior citizens and women cross the road, the Highways Department installed the foot bridges with escalators. Now, pedestrians walk to the traffic junctions to cross the road.

V. Santhanam, Chromepet.

Official response

According to official sources in the Highways Department, it has been over 12 years since the two escalators were installed, and they need servicing, owing to wear and tear. The department has asked the company concerned to check the escalators.

Uncleared silt

The Greater Chennai Corporation is taking initiatives to handle the upcoming northeast monsoon by pruning the branches of avenue trees and desilting storm water drains and channels at Ekkatuthangal and Guindy.

However, the pruned branches and the silt are not cleared soon enough. The debris gives out a foul odour. A spell of rain means the debris returns to the drains and the channels. The Corporation should clear the branches and the silt simultaneously.

P. Merlin Carol, Ekkatuthangal.

(Readers can write to this column at readersmailchennai @thehindu.co.in)