MLA listens to residents woes

CHENNAI: The residents of Jamalia put forth their municipal problems to their constituency MLA during a face-to-face interaction that was organised recently. The ExNoRa Innovators Club of Jamalia had organised the meeting, which brought the civic issues of the area to the elected representatives’ notice.MLA V Neelakandan of the Thiru Vi Ka Nagar constituency met the residents and heads of associations of various streets and colonies, and listened to their grievances. KV Raman, an octogenarian who has been a resident of State Bank Colony for almost 50 years, said, “The main issue here is sewage disposal. When we moved here in 1963, there were barely 35 houses. Since then, there has been a rise in the number of people, houses and apartment complexes. However,  nothing has been done to bring the capacity of the sewage system on par with this.”Raman added that all the streets were flooded during the monsoons, and when the drains were desilted, the muck was left out near the drain and was washed back into the system, making the whole exercise futile. He also pointed out that residents had a role to play in keeping the area free of garbage.The association collectively presented a petition listing the problems faced by them, which included narrow roads, lack of footpaths, desilting of storm water drains, widening of Otteri Bridge, maintenance of Jamalia subway, improper functioning of street lights and questionable behaviour of anti-social elements, among others. MLA Neelakandan accepted the petition and said that he would study the problems and address them accordingly.Founder of ExNoRa International MB Nirmal was also present. He said that North Chennai was largely filled with polluting factors like factories, while South Chennai had parks and hospitals. “There is a green cover of only seven per cent in areas like Perambur,” he said, requesting the MLA to improve this sorry state of affairs. He also said that he would draw the attention of the new mayor to the problems faced by them and urge for swift steps to tackle them.