Ignoring a Burning Issue

DANGER BELL: Ranganathan Street where people floating all the time is in a huge risk of without any preventive measures taken by CMDA authorities. - Photo: Google Images

PANKAJ MENON

CHENNAI

Stitching in his shop located at Lucky Plaza, thirty five year old Subramanian finds that his day is quite early done. Once a very busy man with about 6 to 7 workers under him, Subramanian is now straining to find work His rented shop in Lucky Plaza has descended from the high class air conditioned atmos­phere, to being charred and cracked by the fire accident of September 1, 2008.

“We do not receive customers as we used to, before the fire. Those days, we earned about 3000 to 5000 a day. But now, we receive only about 400 to 500 per day,” said Subramanian.

The catastrophic fire of 2008 has destroyed about 24 of the 48 shops in the first two floors of ‘Lucky Plaza,’ a famous tailoring complex situated in Ranganathan Street, T.Nagar. The accident caused damages estimated to several lakhs of rupees and claimed two lives.

But despite this devastating incident which took place three years ago, shocking is the fact that even today, none of the multiplexes in Ranganathan Street are approved by the fire and rescue services department for adequate fire safety. This revelation comes in response to an RTI query to the fire and rescue services department, seeking information regarding the safety precautions and authorization of shops in the area.

Though several shops claim to have fire cyl­inders at store in case of a fire break out, the ironical fact is that very few of them know how to use the particular safety measure. “We do not know how to use the cylinder,” was the response given by the workers of these shops. Also, these fire cylinders can only stop the fire at early stages, and thus, in case of a major fire break out, essential preventive measures such as a sprinkler system is absent.

The very fact that almost all the shops in Ran­ganathan Street that have wide and sprawling show rooms, but have only a single exit sys­tem, is baffling. “We find it very difficult to move through the place on a normal day. The situation in case of a fire break out is some­thing unimaginable,” says Ragahvan, a regu­lar shopper from one of the leading shops. “In case of another fire break out in the wee hours, a stampede is something guaranteed to occur,” he says.

The crammed ally way that Ranganathan Street has turned out to be, is also another ma­jor cause of concern as the fire engines would find it tough to enter the premise in case of an­other fire break out. This trouble was already brought into focus in the previous fire that occurred early in the morning. But despite all this to be considered, the authorities are yet to take any move regarding the issue. Respond­ing to the lack of fire security in Ranganathan Street, an official source from the Fire and Rescue Services department said “We do not have any authority to demolish any buildings. We just have the certifying authority. It is the CMDA who is supposed to take action.”

West Tambaram in an urgent need of Upgraded Bus Terminus

Tambaram – the ever busy suburb is the entrance for the Chennai city to the south people. A recent survey states that Tambaram handles 1.5 lakh people every day. All the trains leading towards south are paasing via Tambaram Railway Station which is the third largest after Central and Ezhumbur.  The Tambaram Bus Stand is the second largest (after CMBT) bus terminus of Chennai by operating both Moffusil and Metropolitan bus services. But the current bus stand is not enough to handle this much people. 

Tambaram really needs a ‘Bus Terminus’ with better features and wider space. That is the reason why it has been mentioned above the present one as ‘Bus stand’. Currently it just has a shelter roof by the side of GST (Grand Southern Trunk) Road in the name of a terminus. There is neither restroom nor even a place to sit for the passengers. Perumal, a regular commuter from Tambaram to Guindy says “Though this place has a heavy density of people I can’t see any improvements. It stinks always due to the garbage overflow in ditches. The Time-keepers are not responding properly.”

Tambaram has services to places like Saidapettai, Broadway, Ambattur, Thiruvanmiyur etc… to connect with any place of Chennai. It also has a branch of SETC (State Export Transport Corporation) to deal with the services for southern districts. On the other hand it doesn’t even have public toilets so that the public releasing the internal forces (thrust) of their body anywhere. “People don’t having any other option than doing that. Think about the women without lavatory in the Bus stand. This place at least requires a bin to crush the plastic and paper wastes. How much a trashcan will cost? The government is not even able to provide these fundamental things but freebies like TVs & Laptop computers”, said by an annoyed public.

Vetri, who is running a bakery, says the misery of the bus stand ironically “Mr. Common can’t find any taps to solve his thirst in Tambaram. Thereby he is forced to buy water; mostly impure water packets and throwing the partially finished covers somewhere to give some surprise drizzling for his fellow compatriot. Despite having a Subway, people used to jump to the other side of road with exquisite athletic touch. I am not sure whether they are doing it to prove that the Olympics medal dream is not far away. Fascinated by their on-screen heroes they also release rings of smoke in public. I think the Policemen who are responsible to punish or fine these Romeos have taken resolution to be public friendly and therefore sticking to their principle – “Kaavalthurai ungal Nanban”.  

To get a bus to Kanchipuram, passengers have to walk almost a kilometre with luggage to the other extreme of the Bus stand. So the old-aged passengers with heavy bags are forced to hire autos of high cost. The shopkeepers here have hidden the walking pavement entirely. No authorities seem like taking action on these incidents. Tourists from other states and nations really having a tough time here to get the information they need. When citizens of Chennai who have been born and brought up here are not able to have a clear idea about the MTC (Metropolitan Transport Corporation) routes, how one can expect a foreigner who has never been here to travel without assistance?

Government is constructing a big terminus in Tambaram Sanatorium to provide a relief for the above mentioned fiascos. But it is under construction since the Stone Age period. The Municipality officials like junior engineer assures it will get complete soon and they are doing their best. All the public needs to know is when it will get complete?