No warning signs of road repair works put up on arterial roads in Madurai

Residents of Surveyor Colony in Madurai face road repair chaos with no warning signs, causing inconvenience and confusion.

Without any warning signs, repair works are taken up in the city. So, road users are caught unawares and their routine work is thrown into disarray. Moreover, when the work gets dragged on, people are forced to endure much hardship for days together, say residents of Surveyor Colony in Madurai.

In the case of Surveyor Colony, roads remain dug up for more than a week.  The residentsc are clueless as to when they would be closed and what sort of work is to take place. The residents say they do not know whom to approach to know why their roads remain dug up, as there are no officials or workers around.  

In the road near post office at Thangaraj Nagar, a wide trench has been dug across the road. Since it has not been closed even after a week, those who reside in the interior residential areas are unable to cross the wide trench to reach the main road. So, they return all the way back into the residential areas to go in search of an alternative road to reach the main road.

Arumugam, s shopkeeper, said that had there been warning signs on boards about the work on either end of the road, people could take diversions and need not travel all the way to reach the dead end where the trench has been dug up. It is exasperating when they are in a hurry to attend to an urgent work, or going to school or office during peak hours.

Even for road laying works, no signboards are erected due to which car drivers struggle to take reverse on seeing a road getting blocked all of a sudden due to some work or other. “If it is a straight road, the road work will be visible. But in roads with curves as in Surveyor Colony, nothing could be seen until people reach the very work spot,” Mr. Arumugam said.  

Corporation officials said contractors who have been taking up the road works had been adequately instructed about measures to be taken prior to any repair works.  They would be instructed again to adhere to the rules.