21 yrs on, cries to repair road in Urapakkam get no response

CHENNAI: Residents of three villages near Urapakkam in Chengalpattu have been waiting for more than two long decades for the Urapakkam-Nallambakkam road to be repaired. After struggling for years, they had threatened to boycott the polls last year but was promised to re-lay the road soon after election. A year on, nothing has changed.

The 14-km--long Urapakkam-Nallampakkam road was last repaired way back in 1999. According to the residents, the local body officials have not undertaken any repair since then. Due to this, the road has become almost unusable.

Of the stretch, 6.4 km falls under the Forest Department, who do not allow revenue officials to repair the road even if the municipality is willing.

For the past few years, villagers from Karanaipuduchery, Keerapakkam, and Nallampakkam have been filing many petitions to the officials concerned, but the authorities have not taken any action on these representations.

“The road had become unusable even for MTC, SETC buses. The office-goers and students are forced to spend money on other means of transport. Citing the condition of the road, autorickshaw drivers are charging double,” rued K Ramesh from Keerapakkam.

In the past, the villagers staged different kinds of protest, including eating food served on the Urapakkam-Nallambakkam road. Hundreds of them had also sent e-post to the President pleading action.

After all these efforts went waste, the villagers decided to boycott the 2019 elections. The officials then promised to repair the road soon after the election. “But after the elections, there was no response,” alleged another resident.

Citing the rules, Tambaram forest ranger R Vidyapathi said the Revenue Department should allocate an alternate land to the department if forest land is to be used for any public purpose.