EPS flays TN govt over death of woman in Chennai

CHENNAI: Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday expressed shock over the death of a woman, Deepa, who was found dead in a stormwater drain in Choolaimedu in Chennai, on Tuesday, and held the DMK government responsible for the ill-fated incident. He demanded that the government provide compensation to the family and take measures to prevent such tragic incidents in the future.

Palaniswami took to social media to register his strong protest against the government and the authorities. He referred to information from the post-mortem report, which indicated that the victim had struggled for her life for nearly 30 minutes. It was shocking.

He also claimed that residents of the locality had repeatedly flagged the issue of the open silt pit, but the officials had failed to address it.

In the last four-and-a-half years, the DMK government has been boasting about the percentage of stormwater drainage works completed. They claimed that 95 to 97 per cent of the work had been completed. The AIADMK leader questioned what the Chief Minister, his Cabinet colleagues, and the Chennai Corporation Mayor had to say in the wake of this tragic incident. Such ill-fated events, he pointed out, have been recurring every year.

“They neither complete the stormwater drain works, nor is the floodwater drained. They have also failed to protect the lives of innocent people,” he said, further demanding that the CM take stock of the ground reality and act appropriately to complete the stormwater drainage works to prevent such tragedies in the future.