From the outside, everything looks fine at Palkalai Nagar in Palavakkam. But the reality is that, residents here have been grappling with several issues- from inadequate drinking water to leaking drainage lines.
Inside the gated community that houses staff of Madras University, unauthorised sewage lorries are parked at any given time.
According to the association, if this is prevented, residents would fence the area and use it as their parking spot. The said menace has been inconveniencing locals for the past two years, with upto six vehicles being positioned every day.
“Apart from this, leaked sewage from these lorries creates an unhygienic atmosphere and leads to mosquito breeding, which is risky. We have written to the Health department and the University registrar, but to no avail,” says a longtime resident.
Another issue they face, is the shops on the Palavakkam beach being moved into their lands. “The shops have encroached the spaces. Due to this, a lot of waste is left behind by customers. Elders and children in our colony find it difficult to walk along this stretch due to the scattered garbage,” says an office-bearer of the residents’ association here.
An amicable solution they feel, is to put the shops back on the sands. Also, locals here claim that the roads in the colony, that has around 400 houses, are unsafe, due to the lack of speed breakers.
They also request that some stretches be closed and others barricaded, to restrict the movement of vehicles. Being one of the largest and oldest associations in ECR, the houses here still manage with individual septic tanks.
It was intended to be built like a model town, however, few acres of land are yet to be developed, the residents rued, adding that the promised parks and playgrounds have not been implemented till date.