Chennai Corporation begins repair work on cracked road in Velachery

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) began repair work on Sheshadripuram 1st Main Road at Annai Indira Nagar in Velachery, opposite Perungudi Station Road, where a large crack developed on July 7.

Locals said the top layer of the road was dug up by the GCC on August 20, and further repair was in progress.

The damage was caused by work on the foundation of a nearby building. To prevent further impact, the builders constructed an underground retaining wall, officials said.

G. Senthil Kumar, a resident in the locality for 14 years, said rain turned the stretch dug up for repair into a water pit on August 21. “So, the public had to take the Park Avenue Road instead,” he said.

He added that the GCC officials had initially asked the locals to wait 100 days for rectification. “It is scary. I have not witnessed a road cracking open here till now. A family vacated, fearing complications. Even now, buildings tremble if a lorry rushes past,” he said.

Another resident, Rajasekhara Rao, said the impact of further construction was yet to be known. “A structure, nearly half-a-foot thick, was built between the construction site’s compound and the road. No barricades were placed at the road-end, and one part of the road was lopsided. So, people feared it would cave in, and did not take the road. Only pedestrians used the road,” he said.

Earlier, officials said road repair would be done by July.

There was a delay in starting road work because the GCC had to wait for a recommendation from experts of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) who were roped in for assessing the issue, a senior official with the GCC’s southern region said.

“The constructors had to first prepare an underground retaining wall so that the loosened soil layers would not slide again towards the inner compound. Only after the wall was completed could the road work begin. If the road had been re-laid earlier, the rains could have damaged it again, as soil might have slipped into the road from the construction site without a barrier,” he said.