CHENNAI: Even after the widening of 1.5km stretch of Aynavaram Road eight months ago to make the stretch conducive to start new bus service from Perambur to Koyambedu via Raji Street, the people of this locality could not heave a sigh of relief as the widened part is yet to be made motorable.Presently, there is only one bus (Route no 46) that ferries passengers from Perambur to Koyambedu and runs through Konnur High Road. The service is not frequent and plies in one hour interval. Residents in and around Raji Street have to walk for about a kilometre to catch that bus at the Noor Hotel bus stop. Students studying in colleges at Anna Nagar and Arumbakkam and office goers from the neighborhood are the casualties.Last year, Mayor M Subramanian had assured of frequent bus services through Ayanavaram Road. Subsequently, work for widening the road had started and the compound wall of Kilpauk water station, which abuts the road, was shifted 10 feet inside in order to facilitate road laying work. All those sudden efforts made the people believe that they would get bus service soon. But, the widened part of the road is yet to be black topped.“I have to start early from home to reach Konnur high road to get bus. It is like the olden days story when my parents had to walk two kilometres every day to go to school,” lamented Nikhil Kumar, a local resident and a student at a college in Arumbakkam. “Students of this locality have to walk for about 20 minutes to reach the bus stop itself. It is quite disgusting.”The to-be-laid road stretching to about 1.5km is a link between Medavakkam Tank Road and New Avadi Road. If this road work was finished, not only buses but lot of other vehicles would also prefer to take this route to reach Poonamalle High Road from Ayanavaram. At present, vehicles from Perambur drive through Kellys to reach the arterial Poonamalle High Road. The new route would considerably reduce the traffic congestion at Kellys.When contacted, Bus Route Roads (BRR) department of the Chennai Corporation passed the buck to other departments. Officials of BRR department said that Metro Water, TNEB and storm water drain works are yet to start and only after the completion of those works, BRR could start laying road. “Effective co-ordination among all the departments is required. Otherwise we will not get bus service on this route in the near future,” Bhaskar, a Raji Street resident told City Express.
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