State fails to flood-proof vulnerable areas

As the Northeast monsoon commenced, the Greater Chennai Corporation has claimed that it has completed works on 7,365 storm water drains in 1,636 km of suburban areas, minor maintenance works in 3,598 places and repaired 10,346 human gateways. But a field visit by DT Next has revealed that nothing much has been done in some of the most vulnerable areas such as Mudichur near Tambaram, Vyasarpadi and Velachery, which are some of the worst affected areas year after year.

Residents here complain that there has been no development since the Chennai floods, although Mudichur village panchayat was among the most affected areas.

“The officials removed a temple and a few houses that had been blocking the flow of flood water. In many areas, they removed encroachments, but failed to construct storm water drains. Many special officers paid visits and ordered their subordinates to construct new drains and expand the existing ones. But nothing has been done so far. Even after light rains, there is water stagnation that takes more than a week to drain,” said MR Elangovan, a resident of PTC Colony in Mudichur.

The debris of the demolished temple is dumped near the drain, blocking the flow of water. At Lakshmi Nagar, Kurinji Nadan Nagar, and Amudam Nagar, the worst-hit areas in Mudichur during 2015 floods, no works have been undertaken till now.

“The district Collector and other officials visited the area several times this year. But we have not witnessed any changes yet. They also claim that many development works are completed since floods, but everything looks the same,” said R Yuvaraj, another resident.

Tambaram residents are also raising similar complaints. “Even after a brief rain, the entire street gets flooded. Some officials had visited the street after the 2015 flood to construct drains on both sides of the road. But the work has not been completed till now,” said a resident of CTO Colony, which was affected badly during the floods.

St Thomas Mount Block Development Officer L Baskaran said all the works in Mudichur could not be undertaken due to lack of funds. “The area won’t be affected like 2015 floods, everything will be under control,”he claimed.

Alleging that there is water stagnation after even light rains, Ram Nagar residents said officials have not visited the place to speed up drain construction. After the floods in 2015, it took about six months for the situation to be back to normal, recalled V Ramya, a resident. “Since the flood, the officials have not visited. Even for light rains, entire streets get flooded,” she added.

Noting how stagnant water rises up to the knee in the area, S Venkatachalam from Kuberan Nagar said his two-wheeler was stuck in the water once. All this could have avoided if there were drains in the area, he added.

Construction material for an overbridge, dumped by Railway officials near six culverts at Perungudi MRTS station, is blocking flood water from draining into Pallikaranai marshland for more than a month. This newspaper had reported the issue last month, but no action has been taken yet.

Residents pointed out that rainwater collected in the residential areas here like Bharani street, Udhayam Nagar, Tansi Nagar, Annai Indira Gandhi Nagar, Balamurugan Nagar, Bhuvaneshwari Nagar, and VGP Selva Nagar flow into the marshland through these six culverts.

“This accumulation of huge quantity of construction material will affect the free flow of rainwater, and will lead to flooding. We filed a complaint to Corporation officials, who said action would be taken soon,” said M Balakrishnan, a resident of Tansi Nagar in Velachery. The work on storm water drains were completed only in four areas, while it has not even started in the remaining six, said Sankar Ganesh K, another resident.

After waiting for several years, the work on drains finally commenced in Vyasarpadi – but only two weeks ago. Due to water stagnation, traffic congestion is a recurring issue in the area. “Work on the drain started a few days ago, and the workers left it incomplete due to the rain. As it is kept open, there is traffic congestion. There is no space for Metro Water tanker lorries to enter the street, leading to long queue blocking the road,” said Rafiq Ahamed S, who works in a tailoring shop.

Speaking to DT Next, Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said the work on drains have been completed on the basins of Adyar and Cooum rivers. “The central parts of Chennai are being covered with a vast network of storm water drains because these are major flood-affected areas. In North Chennai, the drains will be covered under the Kosasthalaiyar river, where the projects will be signed soon. We are also desilting waterways and clearing manholes in North Chennai. So far, we have cleaned two lakh tonnes of silt from the drains. Within a week, the remaining silt will be cleared. Till now, 13 cm of rain has been registered in many areas in the city, but there is no stagnation,” he added.