The residents of Ramapuram, Chennai, are a happy lot as two of their longtime wishes have been fulfilled. Small bus service has begun in the locality and roads on Bharathi Salai has been re-laid.
“There are a number of workers and school-goers here who depend on the bus for transport. Taking the absence of small bus service as an advantage, the auto drivers started charging us with high fares. But now, this new service is definitely a boon for us,” says Manivannan, a resident of Ramapuram.
Even as many local areas in the sub-urban had small bus facilities, for the people of Ramapuram, it was a distant dream. Earlier, the buses were running from MIOT to Arasamaram junction, but the service was stopped due to various reasons. The neighbourhood associations, clubs and federations made relentless efforts to resume the service.
“As a senior citizen, I suffered a lot all these days without the small buses in our area. Every time I had to argue with auto drivers to reduce the fare or had to walk all the way home. Now, this is a huge relief for people like us,” says Anandhavalli from Ramapuram.
HAPPY RIDING
The next good news is that Bharathi Salai has been relaid and this has brought relief to commuters. “For last few months, the progress was very slow. In fact, the rain worsened the road conditions while the work was still going on. People here had to take alternative routes to reach to their schools and workplaces. This led to huge traffic issues regularly. Now, with the freshly laid road, we will have a calm commutation through the stretch,” says Ramakrishnan, another resident here.
However, he adds that the edges on both sides of the road are yet to be completed. “The sides need smoothening. This might cause accidents and rains will lead to poor grip and may damage the road once again. So we request the workers to complete the work as soon as possible.”