Chitlapakkam residents present list of woes to MLA

Sunil Jayaram of Chitlapakkam said that the residents invited the MLA and the officials for a meeting on June 17. “Around 150 people, including members of resident welfare associations participated. The meeting happened since we had made many representations in the past to various authorities but no action was forthcoming. Except the tahsildar, officials from all departments were present. We had given 10-12 representations with a timeline to the officials, since we want action taken. Issues discussed include encroachment of Chitlapakkam and Sembakkam lakes and bad condition of roads in the locality,” said the social activist.

Kannan S, Secretary of Chitlapakkam Muthulakshmi Nagar Welfare Association, said that the dumping of garbage into the lakes should be stopped, as also the sewage flow into the waterbodies. “The garbage is polluting the groundwater. We made a representation to revive a decade-old well, which can cater to the water requirements of 300 families. We got a recommendation letter from the MLA,” he added.

Remove encroachments

Residents informed the elected representative that 40-60 feet wide roads have now been shrunk to a mere 20 feet, due to encroachments. Ravi M, Secretary, Sri Sarvamangala Nagar Residents Welfare Association, said, “We also asked the officials to ensure that the roads, which have been encroached upon by houses, are made free from these obstructions. The narrow roads make it difficult for school buses and water lorries to traverse, creating congestion during peak hours.” Lack of underground sewage network means that storm water drains turn into illegal sewer lines. In addition, there is inadequate flood checking mechanisms in the locality, said Dayanand K, a civil engineer. “We want the underground drainage network process to be accelerated. The proposed flood channel from Selaiyur lake to Mahalakshmi Nagar, and from there to Sembakkam lake should be completed. The work on the flood channel has been done for 300 metres but stopped due to encroachments on the road. We have suggested the installation of a flood pumping station, which is common in other countries.

Rain plays havoc

This will pump all the water into lakes rather than having it flooding roads. Due to lack of flood channels, even a short spell of rain causes inundation, which poses danger to the children and elderly,” said the president of Pradeep and Karthik Avenue Residents Welfare Association.

The residents said they were happy with the outcome of the interaction. “The MLA promised us that further encroachments would be stopped but did not give a clear indication about  the action that would be taken on existing encroachments. Regarding the lake and road encroachments, there will be two more rounds of discussions before taking a final decision. The MLA also said that he would propose that Chitlapakkam should be made part of the Tambaram Corporation, to speed up the underground drainage network,” concluded Sunil.