Chennai: Chennai corporation, vested with the job of restoring the city devastated by cyclone Vardah, is struggling to clear uprooted trees and the accumulated solid waste that is now piling up along the interior roads of Chennai.
A cross section visit by Deccan Chronicle covering wards in north, central and south Chennai revealed that the corporation had succeeded in clearing the wooden logs along the arterial roads of Chennai, but the situation had not improved in interior roads, where the collapsed trees are yet to be attended even after two days.
The status of Central Chennai, which serves as the city’s nerve centre with government buildings is comparatively better and enjoyed better streetlight network.
Anna Salai, Poonamallee High Road, Inner Ring Road and Beach Road were cleared for traffic and the streetlights on these stretches were also attended.
As usual, the VVIP areas comprising Poes Garden, Boat Club, Gopalapuram and Nugambakkam were attended on a priority basis as DC spotted civic workers, electricity board and state disaster response force working late into Tuesday night.
In residential areas such as Adyar, Alwarpet, K.K. Nagar, Washermenpet comprising Jayalalithaa’s R.K. Nagar constituency, Egmore, Choolai and Ayanavaram are yet to receive attention.
With the situation turning tough, the corporation zonal officials are now insisting that public clear trees using their resources. When asked a senior state official about this, he said the government machinery as a policy will remove trees lying on roads. The trees on private lands come under the public custody and they have to be attended to by residents, he said. Efforts to contact corporation commissioner D. Karthikeyan for his response on the obstacles faced by the civic body proved futile.
