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Three years since devastating flood, but few lessons learnt
Encroachment and construction on Adyar and Cooum river beds, conversion of wetlands to ‘residential use zones’ continue unabated even as Chennai braces for a battering by the Northeast monsoon
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
About 290 people died, and 23.25 lakh houses were inundated when Chennai was flooded in 2015. Even if the onset of monsoon brings back memories of the devastating time, it does not seem to have taught us much. If the skies were to open as it did on the first week of that December that year, the city can still face another flood as the government has done little since then to ward off a repeat of the disaster.
In the immediate aftermath of the floods, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had conducted a survey across the city, more importantly along the Adyar stretch, to assess the situation and the decisions that had led to the catastrophe. The CAG suggested opening Chembarambakkam lake before it reached reaching full capacity to reduce chances of flooding. It also pointed out several structures constructed on the river’s course where the bed had dried. An example of which are the piers built by Metro Rail near Ekkatuthangal. “The base of the piers are built above the surface which obstructs the free flow of flood water. A low water crossing below a bridge on the river connecting Ekkatuthangal and Jaffarkhanpet also obstructs the flow of water,” the report said.
The low crossing was partially damaged in the flood, but was repaired soon afterwards. This despite the report pointing out that the crossing was redundant. “The low water crossing has been used by the local people and it helps during traffic snarls on the bridge above,” an official said.
The CAG also pointed out that the secondary runway created in Chennai Airport increased the possibilities of inundation in the surrounding areas. “The findings of the Anna University were proved right as the airport and adjoining areas were severely inundated during 2015 floods. The pillars acted as filth accumulators,” the report said.
Meanwhile, according to sources, the Airport Authority of India has begun to desilt Adyar near the airport to prevent flooding in the area and those around it. But, two sluice gates, which were proposed by IIT Madras after the floods, are yet to be installed, the sources said.
The CAG also alleged that water discharged indiscriminately from Chembarambakkam lake aggravated the situation immensely.
“Twenty nine thousand cusecs of water was discharged on December 1 even when the lake could hold another 0.268 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water. This was done to save the patta lands around the lake from inundation,” the CAG stated. Interestingly, the water resources department is yet to take any steps to acquire the patta land.
An official from the department, however, said, “The Chembarambakkam lake reached its capacity rapidly as it has a catchment area of a massive 900 square kilometres. Also, the bunds of smaller lakes located higher than Chembarambakkam were broken down illegally to prevent flooding in surrounding villages. This worsened the condition as Chembarambakkam not only received heavy rainfall in its catchment areas, but also excess water from other lakes.”
The official added that Adyar now has a discharge capacity of more than 40,000 cusecs and is in no danger of causing floods unless there is a severe cloudburst.
But, even after the CAG pointed out the depletion of water bodies across the city, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) continued to allow the conversion of wetlands to residential use zones. According to the CAG, during the 13 years between the first master plan and second master plan, the CMDA allowed 439 land use conversions from agricultural zone (1,229 hectares), open space and recreation zone (345 hectares) and sensitive areas such as water bodies (14 hectares).
“During the preparation of master plans, the local authority had included many patta lands into the boundary of water bodies inadvertently. When the land owners approached CMDA with patta documents, we cannot deny the land use conversion. We will have to check the validity of patta before issuing conversion orders,” an official from CMDA said.
205 spots in Chennai vulnerable to inundation
Despite the Greater Chennai Corporation claiming it is all set to face the monsoon by starting stormwater drains works, data suggest that the city still has 205 spots that are prone to flooding. According to sources, the Chennai Corporation has mapped the locations of areas where there are chances of inundation to tackle flooding during monsoon. “We have identified 205 spots in 15 zones. We brought the number of flooding spots in Chennai from 306 in 2015. The numbers have come down owing to the new stormwater drains in the city,” a Chennai Corporation official said. Meanwhile, the official added that the civic body has commenced plugging of missing links in stormwater drains in the city. “If the works could not be completed before rains, the contractors are directed to make temporary drains in cut and drain method. The vulnerable spots are mostly in low-lying areas,” the official said. Of the total 205 locations, 48 locations are in Perungudi zone, which is the highest among the zones.
12K encroachers squat on banks of Adyar, Cooum
Putting themselves and the residents of nearby areas in danger, nearly 12,000 slum dwellers continue to live on the banks of Adyar and Cooum rivers. According to an official from Water Resource Department (WRD), the department and others have been evicting the encroachments on the river banks that fall under Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT). “Despite the continuous action, encroachers refuse to vacate the land,” the official said. He added that there were 15,000 encroachments on the banks of river Cooum and Adyar. “Of the 15,000 encroachments in Cooum, we have evicted nearly 8,000 families. As far as Adyar is concerned, we have removed nearly 4,000 encroachments,” the official said. When asked about the reason for not evicting others from the banks, the official said that the government must provide alternate houses to the slum dwellers for them to take further action. “Slum dwellers are moved to new apartments as soon as the slum clearance board completes it. That’s why the remaining encroachments will be removed after the apartments are completed,” the official said.
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