Poor drainage system leaves Chitlapakkam residents fuming

The Chitlapakkam town panchayat consists of 18 wards with nearly 1 lakh people living in the area. Already reeling under a severe water scarcity, the residents complain that bad maintenance of the drainage system has created enough problems for the locality.

Many residents have fallen ill as stagnant water in the locality has become the source for mosquito breeding. Besides, the residents even complain of frequently suffering from viral fever.

The situation is really worse at Thirumagal Nagar, Karthik Avenue and Pradeep Avenue, as the drainage is not treated properly and in addition the drainage is often left open. As a result, some of the locals dump the garbage in the open drain creating an unhygienic situation.

Vasanth, a resident of Chitlapakkam, said that they have filed a complaint with the town panchayat on many occasions but no action has yet been taken. “The kids are often getting sick and they are even stopped from playing on the roads,” he said.

The drains even overflow on the vacant and unmaintained lands in the locality.

Residents claim that there are many snakes in the vacant land and even last week a cobra was caught by the Forest Department. When contacted, the Chitlapakkam town panchayat Executive Officer V Venkadesan said, "We are planning to cover the stormwater drains with manual openings soon.”

He added that the panchayat had started to issue notices to the land owners for cleaning their lands. On failing to do so, he said that the land would be cleaned by the panchayat staff and the fine amount would be collected from the owners.