Chennai: The Madras High Court expressed concern over non-maintenance of roads in the city and has directed the Chennai Corporation Commissioner to file a status report on the condition of the roads and the amount spent to maintain them.
A division bench of Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad on Tuesday directed the State Highways secretary to file a similar report on the condition of the roads across the state.
The interim order was passed while suo motu impleading the two officials in a PIL moved by R Murali seeking direction to restrain the Perungalathur Town panchayat from relaying roads without milling the existing road.
During the hearing, the bench observed that except for a few arterial roads-like Kamarajar Salai-many roads in the city are not maintained properly. They also raised concerns whether laying and relaying of roads are done in accordance with the prescribed guidelines.
Responding to this, the authorities said the roads are laid as per the standards and were damaged due to the work undertaken by other departments such as TNEB, BSNL to lay cables or pipelines.
“It takes time for them to complete their work and till then we are not able to repair such roads,” the official said.
In his petitionMurali has said the Perungalathur Town Panchayat Officials are trying to relay roads without milling the existing roads. This increased the height of the roads causing inconvenience, like flooding, to the residents.