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More than 40 Percent of Chennaiites believe roads and footpaths are the city's biggest civic problem, a survey commissioned by NGO Call For Change has found. Pollution was the second most cited concern among the 3,100 people who participated in the survey. The NGO submitted the results of the poll and suggestions of the participants to Corporation of Chennai. The NGO invited residents to call in or log onto its website and state their biggest civic peeves and offer suggestions to solve the problems. Around 3,000 people called in and 100 took part in the study online.

As many as 1,241 of the 3,000 people who called said roads, footpaths and traffic are the city's No. 1 problem. People complained about traffic congestion, roads and footpaths being too narrow, and state of the roads, said Vaagai Advisory, which conducted the campaign for Call For Change. People's suggestions have also been put up on the website, where residents can vote for suggestions they think are good ideas.

Call for Change said R Sundar's idea to demarcate zones for two-wheelers and focus on improving public transport won the most votes. The organisation highlighted other ideas, including one on modernising traffic signals and a suggestion that the authorities clean up the city's waterways be cleaned up and water taxis operated to reduce the number of vehicles on the city's roads. Other popular ideas were to provide residents of all localities anti-mosquito spray and give drainage construction contracts to larger infrastructure companies.

Vaagai Advisory director Manuraj Shanmugasundaram said 388 or 13 Percent of the participants were of the view that pollution is Chennai's biggest concern. They said garbage dumping and smoke from burning of waste in the open poses a severe threat to health.

Health and sanitation came in third, with 285 people citing it as the city's biggest civic worry and solid waste management (246) was fourth. "The main concerns people had in health and sanitation were lack of cleanliness, spread of diseases, a surge in the population of mosquitoes, and water stagnation," Shanmugasundaram said. "We hope the corporation will find the data and suggestions useful," said S Ramanathan, also of Vaagai Advisory. "If such surveys prove to be useful, we continue to conduct them."

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