Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Chennai has grow & has its problems

Few days ago I returned from a trip to Chennai, India, it seems like I was totally out of town, the city I grew up in, has grown beyond recognition in the past few years.

Well, there are few great flyovers - Guindy, Red-hills, and one coming up near Koyambedu, Chennai International Airport is going through modernization, new parks and community recreation places like tennis courts, skating arena have come up. Lots of malls and shops are springing up all around the city. The city itself has grown bigger now. Metro train is also being planned now for the city of Chennai.

Many key traffic junctions are being eliminated to minimize travel time. But since the process of infrastructure development has been reactive, we see new areas where where there was no traffic jams few years back now is jammed to 10-15 min of wait time. One such area is the Shanti Colony junction in Anna Nagar.

But there are still certain things that remains - indisciplined drivers & corrupt cops who rely on bribes for a fortune. There are cops who pay money to superiors and come to Chennai from other parts of Tamil Nadu so they can make money from the common man. This is like a chicken and egg story, cops don't stop taking bribes and indisciplined drives find a way by paying off with bribes.

Corporation needs to create zones for Commercial and Residential areas. This would prevent shops from coming up in residential areas like Shanti Colony and create a horde of traffic since the roads are not meant to carry that much traffic in the first place. But guess who provides clearance to these commercial buildings? Either its corrupt office bearers at the corporation or its lack of planning on their part for the future. In couple of years, it would come down to demolishing these commercial buildings like they did in New Delhi.

I have put my thoughts in the Public Grievance and Redressal System  at the website of Corporation of Chennai

Now its wait & see.

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