Monsoon woes for Velachery

Chennai: Inordinate delay by the Public Works Department in completing canal work on Taramani Link road has left the residents of Velachery with no choice but to dread the prospect of flooding during the monsoon season for the fourth year running.

The canal project, announced in 2011, was intended to carry runoff water from Veerangal Odai into the South Buckingham canal thereby helping reduce possibility of flooding in Velachery.

It was due to its commissioning that a road widening project funded by World Bank, which would have turned the Link road into a six-lane highway, has been put on hold since 2011.

“Rainwater stagnates in front of our homes because the Highways department has not constructed storm water drain network. They will only be able to do it if PWD finished with the canal work,” said M Balakrishnan, general secretary, Tansi Nagar residents’ welfare association.

Proof of flooding is there at the point of entry to Tansi Nagar and surrounding localities along the Link road, which is still inundated with rainwater from the downpour in the city two days ago. With stagnant water comes the concern of dengue and malaria but corporation ward 179 councillor S. Murugan said that efforts are being taken to pump out stagnant water.

The ill-fated project has run into all kinds of obstacles since it began, including reported disinterest by the very contractor who won the bid because the project’s value was too low.

Coordination from utility agencies like TNEB and Metro Water in shifting cables and pipelines has also been a struggle. This was when PWD ran into hard rock under the surface.

“We have drilled through almost 400 m of the 500 m rocky surface found underground. Nearly 60 per cent of the project is complete,” said a PWD official.

“We have also agreed to let storm water drain channels from a few localities facing issues into the canal but we have found to our concern that sewage is being let out. Shopkeepers also do not help our cause by throwing animal and food wastes into the canal,” the official added.

Among other reasons, obtaining a permit from traffic police too has been a cumbersome task for PWD, officials said. Though the stretch where work is going on is non-motorable, officials insist that they have been instructed to obtain permit from traffic police.

“For the last two months, we have not received the permit from traffic police. Work has been delayed due to that,” said an official.

Traffic police dismissed the suggestion. “Work has been going on and we have never asked them to stop. With or without a permit, they need to finish the work soon because traffic on that stretch is a mess,” said a senior police officer.

Indeed, the 4 km canal work has thrown vehicle and pedestrian traffic along the arterial stretch completely out of gear. At present, the 400 m stretch from Bharathi Nagar bus stop until TCS office and another 350 m stretch near the Vijayanagar bus stand have to accommodate two-way traffic on barely two lanes.

The result is that negotiating through here during peak hours can be demanding on a motorist. While PWD officials offer hope by saying that only two months are left from completing the project, tired residents have already started contemplating taking to the streets in protest to decry official apathy to their plight.