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Sandhya Vedullapalli, a civic activist, finds it doubly taxing: she has to navigate not only through the dug-up stretches of Anna Nagar’s 9th Main Street but also through civic red tape. “First relaid in January, the stretch is being dug up again, this time for water and sewer connections. The residents had asked the Greater Chennai Corporation [GCC] to allow the underground work to be done beforehand; yet, the road was relaid. Now, it has been cut open again,” she says. Furthermore, an unresolved issue of a 20-ft electrical cable for an old building requires the road to be cut open once again. But the file remains stuck between officials and the councillor, she adds.

Many residents are in a similar position. Road conditions remain deplorable, even after rules were laid down for regulating road cuts, weekly meetings were introduced for coordination among civic agencies and government departments, and the appointment of quality controllers at a cost of ₹7.5 crore to monitor road-laying.

Online application for approval

The GCC has made it possible to apply for permission online for road cuts. Utility agencies such as the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), and the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (Tangedco) are required to hand over roads to the GCC once their work is completed. Until then, they are expected to restore the roads temporarily with concrete or wet mix, according to the GCC’s norms.

However, an official of the Bus Route Roads Department of the GCC admits that permission is often bypassed, even for non-emergency work. “Recently, the GCC even considered filing an FIR against Metrowater for digging up freshly laid roads at Anna Nagar without permission,” he said. Under the regulations, if a road is cut illegally without the GCC’s permission, all materials shall be confiscated, illegally laid structures shall be removed, an FIR shall be filed for offenders to face legal action (officials are included in the FIR only with the Commissioner’s consent), and a fine three times the restoration cost and claim charges shall be imposed.

But this procedure is not being followed. Ward 4 Councillor R. Jayaraman, of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), says that on Mullai Street at Girija Nagar, a newly relaid road was dug up for laying electric cables. But it was not restored on time. “On another street of the same area, Tangedco dug up a newly laid road, but failed to carry out even temporary restoration, despite payments in accordance with estimates. Authorities pass the blame without completing restoration,” he says.

Residents, meanwhile, are being forced to run from pillar to post for road-cut repairs. K. Murali of Thirumoorthy Nagar, Nungambakkam, says that a road dug up by Metrowater was left open for over a year. Several complaints to officials and elected representatives went in vain. The GCC made the road motorable only after he took the matter to the Chief Secretary.

Raghukumar C. of the Community Welfare Brigade says that while the government line departments are responsible for good infrastructure, it is essential for citizens to be proactive in reporting issues and coordinating with officials. “Consultants were appointed for quality control, but are visibly inactive. So, people must take control,” he says. “Many electricity poles were damaged and loose wires came in contact with open drains, posing a fire hazard during the monsoon. No action was taken for many months by officials. Only with the community’s intervention were these problems resolved,” he says.

The damaged Demellows Road at Choolai.
| Photo Credit:
B. Jothi Ramalingam

C. Ramakrishnan, secretary of the Federation of Adyar Residents’ Associations, says a portion of Gandhi Nagar Second Main Road sank a few months ago after the road was dug up by service departments and it remained unrepaired for weeks. “Many stretches were damaged. In front of The Grand Sweets at Adyar, the road remains uneven because storm-water drains were laid improperly. Officials neither inform residents about road cuts nor do they attend to the damage immediately when flagged,” he says.

M. Kamala Kannan of Makkal Needhi Maiam says the long-pending demand for restoring the damaged T.P.P.- Burma Nagar Link Road of the Manali Zone has not met for several years. “Also, many roads were dug up at Burma Nagar by the CMWSSB several weeks ago but were not restored. Children, women and two-wheeler riders who take these small lanes often meet with accidents.”

Tuesday meetings

The question is who must take responsibility for these issues. A senior official of the GCC admits that it is the civic body’s responsibility to ensure good roads. He says it has been holding meetings every Tuesday to coordinate with other departments. New road cuts were halted in September. As of September 17, 1,281 road-cut repairs had been completed, while 589 repairs were to be done.

From 2017-18 to 2024-25, the total allocation for road restoration had increased, but its utilisation was uneven. In 2017-18, only ₹69 crore was spent against the allocation of ₹245 crore, while in 2020-21, the expenditure rose to ₹210 crore on a plan of ₹143 crore. In 2023-24, of the ₹881 crore announced, just ₹121 crore was utilised. A senior official explains that Bus Route Road funds are transferred to zones, and expenditure is recorded at the zonal level. Hence, there is a difference between the allocation and the spending.

GCC Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran says the Corporation plans to take over temporary road restoration, since most city roads are under its control and service departments pay the required charges. In 2024-25, these charges included ₹18 crore for water supply connections, ₹17 crore for sewage pipelines, and ₹15 crore for electricity cables.

However, an official of the Bus Route Roads Department says this is a difficult plan since the department finds it a challenge to manage large-scale projects involving the CMWSSB and the Tangedco. “Also, handling both development and repairs simultaneously is difficult. Hence, issues do arise in some areas. Two hundred battery-operated vehicles were deployed — one each for a ward — for expediting road restoration.”

Service departments blame the patchy roads on lack of coordination, staggered restoration, and snags in approval. The CMWSSB hands over stretches to the GCC for temporary restoration with concrete once pipelines are laid. The stretch is relaid with a 3.5-m bituminous layer, sources say. “So far this year, about 2,800 roads spanning 440 km have been handed over to the GCC for relaying, with network data shared through an application programme interface. However, inadequate coordination among some government agencies may cause damage to water and sewer lines. It takes four to five days to restore normalcy,” the sources say.

The construction of the storm-water drain is incomplete at Kellys near Purasaiwalkam.
| Photo Credit:
R. Ragu

With the CMRL constructing its 118.9-km Phase 2 network, residents often flag roads damaged in the execution of the project.

Four layers

CMRL officials say contractors are required to maintain roads to the standard and restore them to motorable condition. Roads have four layers: Granular Sub-Base (GSB), Wet Mix Macadam (WMM), Dense Bituminous Macadam (DBM), and Bituminous Concrete (BC). Depending on the depth dug, some layers are restored later. Officials note that this staggered relaying is the main reason for the restored roads to wear out quickly.

A senior official of the Electricity Department says that for laying new underground power cables, a dedicated unit, Chennai Development Circle, handles the process of permission for road digging. Once a project is approved, civic officials and the traffic police are informed beforehand.

The main problem arises when cables are damaged by other agencies such as Metrowater, telecom service providers, or gas companies. Local electricity officials face tight deadlines to secure online permission and complete the work. The official urges the GCC to resolve this issue of coordination. V. Varsha of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy says negligence or lack of awareness among officials is not the reason for bad roads, but the lack of proper knowledge of the standard operating procedures. “Road restoration by other utilities is sub-par and even that of the GCC is not up to the mark. Yet, the latter may have a better understanding of the process. A weekly meeting on the guidelines for road restoration procedures for officials of multiple departments may help in proper road restoration,” she says.

(With inputs from K. Lakshmi, Sunitha Sekar and R. Srikanth)