Patchy drain desilting threatens to drown Chennai

With the Northeast monsoon already arriving, incomplete desilting of storm water drains brings fears of water stagnation and even inundation among city residents. 

Of the estimated 4.51 lakh tonnes of silt clogging the city’s drain network, the civic body has managed to remove only 2.89 lakh tonnes as on October 24 – only 64 per cent. This despite the Corporation promising the residents that it would complete desilting before the onset of monsoon, an assurance which it has failed to fulfil.

In terms of length, data shows that the civic body has completed desilting works in only 72 per cent of total drains taken up for desilting. “Of the total 1,650.79 km of storm water drains taken up to desilt, works are completed for a length of 1,186.90 km,” an official said. Chennai Corporation maintains 8,835 drains that run to a total length of 2,071.01 km. Desilting of 206.05 km is in progress, while the works for a length of 257.84 km have not even been taken up.

Of the 2.89 lakh tonnes of silt removed from the drains, 1.86 lakh tonnes have been transported to dumping yards.

Residents complain that the contractors have left desilting works midway after the rains started. “Recently, the Corporation had started desilting works on Third Street in Lakshmi Nagar in Madipakkam recently. The workers were carrying out the work until the rains started. After the downpour, they did not return to resume the work,” said GM Shankar, a resident of Madipakkam.

Pointing out the civic body’s indifference, Shankar said that he had raised a complaint about the storm water drains in his locality being clogged and asked officials to start desilting a couple of months ago. “But the officials have refused to take up the work immediately.”

Shankar said he was suspicious about the civic body issuing ‘urgent’ tenders. “They had floated tenders worth Rs 35 crore to desilt storm water drains across the city as emergency tenders. There is a possibility of scam while issuing emergency tenders. Why should they float tenders in the last minute,” he asked.

When asked about the delay in completing desilting, a Chennai Corporation engineer said that there are issues in transporting the silt from the sites to dumping yard. Tenders on desilting drains are being floated by respective regional offices, he added.

“Earlier, the contractors would dump the silt into nearby vacant plots. The new process that we are now following mandates them to transport the silt removed from drains to the dumping yards in Perungudi and Kodungaiyur. We are weighing the silt being transported to the dump yards,” he added.

The data from the Corporation show that the Thiru Vi Ka Nagar zone has removed only 17 per cent silt from the drains, which is the lowest among the 15 zones. Of the estimated 48,781 tonnes of silt, only 8,360 tonnes have been removed. In comparison, 92 per cent of silt has been removed from the drains in Alandur zone.

A Chennai Corporation higher official said that the desilting works would be completed during this week. Apart from failing to complete desilting, the civic body also lags behind when it comes to repairing and other works on storm water drains in 42 locations.

During a meeting held in Ripon Building last week, the senior officials had instructed the contractors to complete the works before November 3.

The civic body had already warned the contractors of collecting liquidated damages from them if the storm water drains that they had desilted flood during this monsoon.

Tamil Nadu received about 160.1 cm of rainfall in October against the expected rainfall of about 166.9 cm. However, weather experts said that the recorded rainfall is only four per cent below normal and that the state has received adequate rainfall this month.

The Nilgiris, Coimbatore and Ramanathapuram districts received 112 per cent, 69 per cent and 67 per cent rainfall respectively since the commencement of northeast monsoon. Chennai received 203.6 cm of rainfall against the expected rainfall of about 239.7 cm, recording a drop of 15 per cent in the average rainfall for the month.

Tamil Nadu got more than the expected rainfall from June to September and in November, the State is likely to receive at least 150 cm. The officials at Regional Meteorological Centre stated that cyclonic circulation is likely to bring heavy rainfall in the first week of November.

On Tuesday, Tiruvarur received the highest amount of rainfall (7 cm), while Kancheepuram, Cuddalore and Villupuram received 5 cm. The city also received light rainfall with Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam recording 2.18 cm and 0.8 cm respectively.

RMC officials issued a heavy rainfall warning and stated that heavy to very heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Tamil Nadu, including Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, Madurai, Sivaganga, Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri in the next 48 hours.

The city is also expected to receive light to moderate rainfall along with thundershower in some areas with sky condition likely to be generally cloudy. Maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 33 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees Celsius respectively.