53 year old subway under Maintenance

- Tharini Magesh

One side of the subway which was constructed in 1966 that is located between Reserve Bank of India and Port Trust is under maintenance work from the 14^th of this month.

This subway is the path that is used by many people who have to reach Marina Beach, Mylapore, Adyar and other areas from parry. Even the important officials who have to move from high court to any other place would use this subway. The subway was constructed in 1956 after the construction of Sub-Urban Rail routes.

Now one side of the bridge is under construction. The side where the beach road takes commuters from Parry’s to Rajaji road is blocked for maintenance. So, the buses and commuters have to use the North Fort Road to reach Secretariat, Marina Beach and other places along the Rajaji Road.

The tracks that run above the RBI subway has to be replaced due to Safety Concerns. And so, the Southern Railways has asked the police to block one side of the road. The Chennai Corporation has taken this time to relay the road under the subway entirely. The replacement work might happen for more than a month and the commuters would have to use North Fort Road till then. Around one lakh rupees is to be spent on relaying the roads on this subway now.

“This subway is important because it separates traffic from those who want to reach Beach and Anna Salai but because of this everybody has to use the same road which causes a lot of traffic” says Mani, An auto-rickshaw driver.

“In the morning the traffic becomes worse near High Court bus depot as many commuters are using this road.” Says a bike commuter.

Historical Background of the subway:

• The Name of this subway is K.Kamaraj Subway but it was forgotten by many and the then Chief Minister M. Bhakthavatsalam inaugurated it.
• This subway was inaugurated on April 29^th, 1966, making this subway 53 years old now. The subway was built with a cost of Rs.60 Lakhs at that time.
• At first an overhead bridge was proposed to ease the traffic as there would have been a need to block the road 100 times a day because of level crossing for the trains to reach Beach Station, But, then the project was changed into a subway.
• For some time, the subway was with Highway department then after 30 years, it was given to Chennai Corporation.
• The modern art that is present in the median of the subway was painted just a year ago.

Patients get treated among Construction dust in Stanley

- Tharini Magesh

Treatments take place in the super speciality building of Stanley Medical Hospital despite the construction work that is going on in the building.

Stanley Medical hospital and college being of the oldest hospital and medical colleges in Tamil Nadu provides healthcare to the people of Chennai. The people who get treated here are mostly from low economic backgrounds.

The Super-speciality building of Stanley hospital which is located in George Town has a super speciality building that was constructed and opened in 2016. It was opened in December. but it as not used for any purpose till November 2018. The building remained unused for the use of the public.

Then the health care department of Tamil Nadu wanted to further increase the level in the building. At first, it was just a three-storey building and now it has been raised to a six-storey building as there was a need for more beds for the patients who were admitted here. This construction work began at the beginning of 2019. By this time some of the medical facilities like MRI scan, CT scan, Ultra Sound and radiography were available for the use of doctors and patients.

Due to this reason the patients who are using this block have to use this building inspite of all dust and sound that is created by the construction work. The patients who are already there to get cured could fall prey to the more serious problems because of this. The shifting of these scanning facilities could have been postponed till the construction is over.

“I have admitted my child here for a fracture and we have come here to get X-ray. Because of this dust, I have developed an allergy and I have to take medication for it now” says Selvi. It is not just the adults there are also many just born children who turn into this building to get scans and reports even they can get affected by the dust that is left everywhere in this building due to construction.

This shows the irresponsibility of the government and concerned officials in taking decisions regarding health care. It is important for the Stanley Medical Hospital to have more beds and facilities in the super-speciality block. But public health should also be an important concern. The facilities like scans that are now on this building could have been shifted after the building construction in over as it would have provided a hygienic environment for those who are getting treated.

Tamil Nadu is the third among other states in providing health care is providing facilities to people in an unhygienic way, then the health care of other states which are ranked below Tamil Nadu can only be imagined in conditions even worse than this.

Though it is a need for the government to improve the facilities and the number of beds it is also important for them to provide quality health care to the people of Tamil Nadu.