When the present DMK government came to power in 2021, one of its initiatives that received wide appreciation from the public and civil society organisations was its order to ensure that milling was done before re-laying of roads.
While this move, to a large extent, has helped the road levels from unnecessarily going up during the re-laying process, another such problem that is in need of special focus is the uneven placement of manhole covers dotting the roads.
The underground drainage network in Chennai has around 1.35 lakh maintenance holes. Ideally, the manhole covers should be at the same level as the roads. However, a significant percentage are either protruding above the road by a few inches or lying a few inches below road level, posing a serious safety risk to motorists.
