Roadcuts made to lay natural gas pipelines yet to be repaired in many places in the city

The pipes for the compressed natural gas line left by the side of Chennai-Tiruttani High Road in Ambattur Old Town.
| Photo Credit: M. VEDHAN

With the threat of heavy rain looming large, residents of several areas around the city, including Semmancheri, Mudichur, and Ambattur, are worried about roadcuts made by compressed natural gas (CNG) companies to lay pipelines.

In some places, there are large pits that are likely to get filled with water once it rains. In other areas, there are roads that are damaged, making the riding surface dangerous to motorists. Tambaram-Mudichur Road has pits at regular intervals.

“I am worried about how the road will be in the next two days when heavy rain is expected. Since the gas line is coming from Sriperumbudur and turns into Manimangalam and runs through Mudichur Road, the open pits have been on the road for over eight months now. These are points where there are gate valves. Though barricaded, there are no reflective stickers. When the water seeps into the soil in these pits, they are more likely to cave in, thus weakening the nearby road surface,” said P. Damodaran of the Mudichur Residents’ Welfare Association.

Chennai-Tiruttani High (CTH) Road from Padi to Thiruninravur has also been cut up to lay gas pipelines but the surface remains rough and has not even been patched up. “There are long cuts and though the trenches have been closed, motorists try to avoid these stretches since they make driving difficult. Two-wheeler riders especially are prone to accidents. There have been many unreported accidents due to the rough road surface,” said J. Jayakumar, a resident of Pattabiram.

At Semmancheri, bang on Rajiv Gandhi Salai, residents of Appaswamy Splendour in ward 200 of the Greater Chennai Corporation have been shooting off e-mail after e-mail to various agencies asking that the road cut on the main carriageway and the service lane be corrected before the rain, but to no avail.

P. Ramasamy, a resident of the area, said for even light showers made water stagnate on the service lane, cutting off access to their apartment complex. “In the last two months, we have had the CNG company and the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board digging up the road. But repair works are yet to be carried out,” he said.

Residents of several other areas in and around the city too are facing similar problems with two companies involved in laying of gas pipelines.