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Mylai residents stuck without water, toilets
Can you live without a toilet? Residents of PS Sivasamy Salai have been forced to use the bathrooms and toilets of relatives and friends living in adjacent streets for more than 10 days, due to the storm water drain works progressing at a snail’s pace.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
Balaji KV, the 51-year-old petrol bunk manager, had the next few days planned – his focus was to scour the city for applications for his daughter’s college admission.
As he watched a huge earthmover digging near his house, he had asked the workers to not dig too close to the foundation. Barely hours later, however, Balaji’s life turned topsy-turvy because the front portion of the 40-year old building collapsed.
“My brother, a bachelor, and sister, a widow, were staying in the first floor, while my daughter and I lived in the ground floor. After a part of the house collapsed, my siblings shifted to Tambaram, while my daughter and I had to rent a room for Rs 700 per day because we cannot use the toilets in our house and there is no water either,” rued the resident. What angers Balaji is the callousness of the officials.
“Not a single official was supervising the work, and when we ask when it will be remedied, they promised to attend to at the earliest.
But ten days later, nothing has changed,” he fumed. There are close to 25 buildings on this stretch, housing close to 40 families. Sixty-one-year-old AMK Sai, who has been living on this street for 20 years, has been forced to go to his sister’s residence in Velachery to shower.
“The sewage lines are located where the works are going on. We cannot use the toilet or bathroom and there is no water either. My wife and I are living in the house, trying to eat only little so we don’t have to use the restroom often,” he said.
The tea shop and electrical out let have downed their shutters, as the deep ditch dug up for construction of storm water drain has cut off access.
Shops that are open are connected to the road by a flimsy wooden plank. Rupavathi, whose husband Umapathy runs the Umapathy Electricals, said that they had to down their shutters for more than a month now. “[It] is affecting us financially,” she said.
A Corporation official said that the drainage line will be provided by next week, before the construction work is taken up any further.
Lack of planning causes misery in Mylapore
Residents of PS SivaswamySalai feel that little or no planning has been done before the commencement of the stormwater drain work on their street.
On a busy afternoon, the oneway traffic on PS Sivaswamy Salai meanders past a four-feet deep pit with rods sticking out of it. Rough and narrow planks connect the residents to the road at various points.
However, traversing these temporary access pathways has been tough, especially for senior citizens, who remain confined to their homes. Out of the 25 houses, only seven have an additional entrance in the back. The rest are forced to use the plank.
“Ideally, they should secure the buildings before commencing the project, because many of the edifices are more than 40 years old. But that wasn’t done and one day the digging began,” said B Neelakandan, secretary of Vivekanandapuram Residents Welfare Association. After two houses collapsed, there was still no response from the contractor.
“When we asked the contractor about this, we got an irresponsible answer. Only after the media attention, the Corporation officials visited the spot and directed the contractor to remedy the damage,” said Kannan, the president of the association, adding that one of the house owners had himself steadied the foundation with concrete bags to prevent further damage. Redressal too is not easy to come by, said the residents.
“When we approach the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewage Board (CMWSSB) officials, they point out that it is the Corporation’s mandate. When we reach out to the local Corporation office, they directed us to the Storm Water Drain department.
We receive no proper information,” said Anbumani K, another resident. The Corporation had asked the contractor to expedite the work, but residents said that the situation on the ground is quite the opposite.
“The entire stretch of the road is dug up, but no work happens during the day, citing traffic reasons, which makes little sense,” said Anbumani.
The residents fear that the work will drag on until the monsoon season, leaving their houses on shaky ground, resulting in damages to the buildings.
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