Chennai: Road from Perungudi to Thoraipakkam is a mess

CHENNAI: The one-km Corporation Road that connects Thoraipakkam and Perungudi has been dusty and bumpy for the past seven years.
The dust clouds that trucks leave in their wake discourage locals from venturing out.
Around 100-120 lorries that traverse the stretch to reach the sewage treatment plant are often parked on both sides of the road, eating into public space.
“We’ve stopped using the Corporation Road to go to OMR. We take a one-km detour through an interior road to reach OMR,” said Sweja R., a resident of a high-rise on the road, Cabs and autorickshaws charge 50 to 100 more if they come here for a pick-up, she rued.
Local residents such as Prakash Ratnam, said the bumpy ride on Corporation Road hasn’t got better for the past six to seven years.
Most children here have cough and cold every week due to the dust, while some residents shell out 25,000 every six months to service their cars because of the road.
Lorry owners said most of their earnings go into repairing their vehicles that suffer damage from plying on the backbreaking road.
“During the rains a few days ago, we did a bit of temporary restoration with wet mix macadam near a school on the road to make it more motorable,” said GCC Regional Deputy Commissioner (South) MP Amith.
“By August second week, we may lay a concrete road worth 10.5 crores,” said a GCC official.