Poorly maintained roads throw up dust at Kamban Nagar in Puducherry

Poorly maintained roads throw up dust at Kamban Nagar in Puducherry

The sand and fine dust, accumulated along the poorly maintained internal roads at Kamban Nagar, a residential locality at Reddiyarpalayam, has been causing inconvenience to residents.

Laid several years ago, the internal roads in the residential localities need attention. With hardly any repairs, most of them have fallen into disrepair, residents say.

“In the internal roads of Kamban Nagar, every passing vehicle leaves a trail of dust. The locality was developed over two decades ago, and the roads need to be re-laid. Layers of dust and sand have deposited along the road side. As a lot of construction activity is going on in the area, trucks and heavy earth machines constantly criss-cross the locality, kicking up a wave of dust,” says A. Arasu Kumar, a resident.

Residents have been coping with the problem for the past one year. Even the vehicles parked in front of the houses are powdered with dust. The dust pollution has also left several residents with breathing problems.

For M. Ravichandran, a senior citizen, even riding his two-wheeler on the internal roads has become a challenge. The accumulation of fine dust and sand along the roads endangers the riders. The Main Road at Kamban Nagar takes motorists to the arterial Villupuram Road. Heavy vehicles, which take this road, kick up a lot of dust. The open drain and the roads full of potholes make matters worse, he says.

“Poor maintenance of the roads has resulted in the residents suffering the impact of the huge accumulation of dust and other materials right at the doorstep of their houses. The authorities should immediately repair the roads by properly recarpeting them,” says Gayathri Devi, a resident.

Civic officials cite funds shortage as the reason for not re-laying the damaged roads. “We are dependent mainly on funds allocated under the Member of Legislative Assembly Constituency Development Scheme  for relaying roads. The civic body looks after around 461 km of interior roads. The funds allocated last year could be utilised to repair only around 37 km,” an official says.