Chennai: The Greater Chennai Corporation recently stated it was ready with the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the construction of the Skywalk to connect Mambalam railway station and T Nagar bus stand at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore.
However, activists and residents of the area rue that the government is supposed to look into various other alternatives and only when all avenues get exhausted should the agency think of new proposals. They allege the sywalk is an avoidable expenditure and the funds could be diverted to other pressing issues in the area instead.
The need to build a sky-walk arose due to extreme difficulty being experienced by the public to navigate through the ever-busy Ranganathan street on the one side and, the Railway Border road-Natesan street on the other to reach the bus stand and vice versa.
“People are jostling for space because of the widespread encroachment on Ranganathan street, Natesan street, Railway Border road by the commercial complexes and other hawkers. It must be stated that the mess is due to the inefficiency, callousness and the failure of the statutory functionaries to perform their duties and responsibilities,” said Jayaram Sivaram from the T Nagar Resident Welfare Association.
He added that instead of putting up a sky-walk — which over a period of time would become infested with encroachments — the corporation must work hard to retrieve public space on Ranganathan street, Natesan street and Railway Border road from encroachments.
Residents say that the by-lane between Ranganathan and Natesan streets can be cleared of all impediments so that it can be made use of by the public. While a small portion on the eastern side of the bylane is being used by the nearby shops to dump their wares, the other half is in an utter state of neglect.
They suggest the Corporation must rescind the sky-walk proposal and pursue its efforts to rid the streets of all encroachments, which would ensure hassle-free movement. Conceived in 2015, the Skywalk project had been in limbo due to technical problems involving alignment, construction of pillars and establishing land ownership.
