Chief Minister, deputy visit flood-hit in city, suburbs

Flanked by Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerslevam and other cabinet colleagues, the CM said that the state had taken every possible measure, besides taking continuous efforts to recharge ground water by building check dams and constructing storm water drains, among other things. 

Palaniswami also seconded the claims made by Municipal Administration Minister SP Velumani, as Chennai faring better than Bengaluru in terms of recovery from rain effect. 

“Low-lying areas with water-logging were identified in the Chennai Corporation and Kancheepuram district. Workers and officials worked on a war-footing and stagnant water has been removed. The city has received 36 cm of rains in the past three days. The government acted swiftly to ensure there was no water stagnation in the city,” he reasoned. 

“People, whom I visited on Friday in North Chennai and parts of Kancheepuram, have asked me to devise a permanent solution to the issue of inundation. As part of the government’s resolve to address the issue, a storm water drain system is being constructed for the city’s needs and the work is over on 300 km of the proposed 386 km long system. 

The works completed was carried out a cost of Rs 1,100 crore, while the rest would be completed under JICA scheme at an outlay of Rs 1,800 crore. The entire work will be completed soon,” Palaniswami assured. On Kudimaramathu scheme, the CM observed that the first phase has been completed at a cost of Rs 100 crore in 1,519 wa

ter bodies. 

“In addition, farmers, farmers’ associations and social activists had also worked on the same. The measures had improved the water storage by 30 per cent. The second phase with an outlay of Rs 300 crore had been halted due to the onset of monsoon. 

We are also planning to build check-dams across rivers,” he said. On removal of encroachments from water bodies after a direction from the court, the CM maintained that it was almost completed. He added that he has photographic evidences to prove it.