Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan
“Minister for Municipal Administration and Water Supply K.N. Nehru should inspect the progress in road works in Madurai before the onset of monsoon to assess the need and the urgency to complete them soon,” said Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan.
Accompanied by Deputy Mayor T. Nagarajan and CPI (M) party cadre, Mr. Venkatesan met Madurai Corporation Commissioner S. Dinesh Kumar on Friday. Addressing media after the meeting, he said he impressed upon the Commissioner the need for a 24×7 emergency cell to receive calls and address the issues pertaining to the areas under the Corporation limits during the monsoon.
The representation made to the Commissioner about the troubles faced by the people while travelling on city roads after the unexpected rains was to let him realise the seriousness of the issue, he said.
“There were heavy rains from June 1 to August 15 in Madurai, which recorded 236 mm rainfall — 91% more than the normal rainfall of 120 mm during this period. This underscored the need to restore damaged roads,” he added.
The Commissioner assured them that 34 important roads requiring immediate attention would be repaired soon, he said.
“Major bridge works at Melamadai and Goripalayam, being carried out by the National Highways, add to the traffic problem,” he added.
Inconvenience during development projects was unavoidable, he said, adding: “But necessary precautions should be taken by the appropriate authorities to not trouble the public even before starting the projects.”
Through media reports he learned that after the recent heavy rains, water stagnated on the roads at Goripalayam did not recede even after two hours, he added.
“Monsoon rains will start very soon. But it is apparent that Municipal Corporation is not prepared and equipped enough to deal with the resultant issues,” he added.
The District Collector should convene a meeting with the officials of the National Highways and the Madurai Corporation to ensure smooth coordination between them to expedite the civic works, he suggested.
The Corporation Commissioner should also conduct weekly review meetings with officials to discuss the progress of road works, he noted.
Regarding the Union government returning the project reports of metro rail services in Madurai and Coimbatore, he said how could one expect the Centre to approve the projects when it had not given the pending amount for ongoing projects like Chennai Metro Rail Project.
