Reporter's Diary: Metro Water woes affect lawmakers too!

CHENNAI: It’s common for residents to lament over basic needs. But in a rare case, K Selvaperunthagai, MLA and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the State assembly, complained at a meeting that his house in Valasaravakkam does not receive Metro Water.

“We depend on lorry water,” he said. Selvaperunthagai, along with committee members, who are also MLAs, held a review meeting at the Ripon Building on Wednesday.

During the meeting, they drilled the officials of Chennai Corporation and Metro Water, raising several issues pointed out in CAG reports over the years.

While reviewing some of the CAG queries pertaining to Metro Water, Selvaperunthagai pointed out that his residence in the Valasaravakkam is yet to receive water supply.

While asking for a reason for the delayed implementation of water schemes in the added zones, he said, “I have to buy water from tankers for daily needs.” He also instructed the concerned zonal officer to meet him to discuss the issue.

More than a decade after being appended with the Chennai Corporation, several areas in the added zones, including the IT Corridor (OMR), Ambattur, and others, are yet to get water and sewage connections.

Newspapers, including the DT Next, have highlighted the plight of residents in those areas several times but this is the first time a lawmaker has aggrieved over it in an official meeting.

- by Rudhran Baraasu, Chennai