Five escalators to be replaced across Chennai

CHENNAI: The Highways department has proposed to replace the five malfunctioning escalators installed in the Foot Over Bridge (FOBs) across the city. Each is located at MEPZ junction in Tambaram, near Chromepet GH on GST Road, near SBIOA School on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai, at Velachery near TCS office and at Taramani link near Perungudi MGR Salai junction. These escalators were inaugurated in 2014 by the late former CM J Jayalalithaa.

DT Next visited the FOB that connects the Chromepet bus stand on GST Road with the Chromepet railway station, and another in Tirumangalam near Anna Nagar West Depot.

For the past six months, the escalator in this FOB has remained non-functional, making it a challenge for senior citizens, persons with disabilities, pregnant women and people with heavy luggage to climb the staircase and lengthy ramps.

“It’s unfortunate that the difficulties faced by the public are not understood by the Highways department officials. Though they had promised to replace the malfunctioning escalator with a new one by February 2024, nothing materialised. If they don’t finish the pending work before April 18, we’ll protest in front of the defective escalator,” said Lion Govindarajan, social activist, founder-president, United Federation of Residents Welfare Associations.

A similar situation prevails in Tirumangalam; the escalator has not been working for the past three months. “I work as a house help in Tirumangalam, and have to work for 10 hours a day. After a long day at work, it’s tiresome to climb steps here,” lamented K Ganga, a resident of Ayapakkam.

When DT Next contacted the Highways department, an official said that the existing escalators were 10 years old. “We have requested the State government to install new escalators and are awaiting approval. Once it’s cleared, new escalators will be installed in around 2 months,” the official added.