Residents hope GCC’s Budget focuses on infrastructure improvement
The Hindu
The Greater Chennai Corporation’s (GCC) Budget for the 2023-24 financial year will be presented by Mayor R. Priya on Monday and residents across the city hope that focus on improving infrastructure prevails.
The Greater Chennai Corporation’s (GCC) Budget for the 2023-24 financial year will be presented by Mayor R. Priya on Monday and residents across the city hope that focus on improving infrastructure prevails.
Almost half of the Budget estimate for the previous year was allocated towards stormwater drains, and this year, the Corporation is looking to expand the existing network. However, the residents are hoping for better roads.
“There seems to be no concrete plan as far as Singara Chennai 2.0 is concerned,” said Kannan, president, T. Nagar Resident’s Welfare Association. He added that in T. Nagar alone, many roads such as Motilal Street and Rameswaram Street were in a bad condition and had been like that for a quite a while.
“The patchwork on certain portions of the road affected by civic projects is not properly done, which is the case for almost every single one of the inner roads here,” said G. Srinivasan, a resident of Valasaravakkam.
“As someone who travels across the city on a two-wheeler, the bad roads really pose a threat as they can cause traffic accidents and hold-ups,” said Harshitha S. Some office-goers in Anna Salai brought to light the poor condition of concrete slabs used to cover the stormwater drains.
Unlike the State government’s Budget, the Corporation’s was a limited playing field, said an official, but added that developing the city’s infrastructure would play a role in the overall picture.
While residents are worried over deaths due to diarrhoea in Vijayawada, officials still grapple to find the root cause. Contaminated drinking water supplied by VMC officials is the reason, insist people in the affected areas, but officials insist that efforts are on to identify the disease and that those with symptoms other than diarrhoea too are visiting the health camps.