Silted up drains let city down

CHENNAI: Large sections of the 1,400 kms of stormwater drains in the city were clogged on October 17, when 16 cms of rain inundated Chennai. Barely weeks after they had apparently been desilted by the Chennai corporation, most drains failed to absorb the water that flooded the streets of the city over the weekend. The obstruction was the very silt that the corporation had cleared earlier.

According to corporation engineers, one of the main reasons for the weekend water logging and stagnation was the sludge that had been heaped alongside many kilometers of the stormwater drains and not been cleared.

An old problem, the corporation had even contemplated hiring a separate contractor to just clear the debris this season. But the plan was shelved and it was decided to continue with the same contractors who desilt the drains to also clear the sludge.  

 The corporation desilts stormwater drains twice a year.  This year, the work commenced on July 31. But many of the contractors who were given the work to remove the silt from the drains failed to dispose of the the silt and left it in mounds on the roadside instead.

On Friday, the same sludge flooded the drains again.   “The silt removed from the drains has to dry for a day or two before it is removed, said S. Sakthi, zonal chairman of Teynampet.
“Even if contractors fail to remove the silt after it dries, corporation’s conservancy staff remove it, making sure that they do not return into the drains once again.”   But the streets of Chennai had a different story to tell.

Even on Monday, 208 roads were stagnated with rainwater, of which the corporation claims to have cleared 155 roads.

A total of 13 subways were also inundated.When contacted, a senior corporation official such act of not removing the silt from roadside has drastically reduced following the corporation’s stringent action taken over against violators.