Post Vardah: KK Nagar loses its green cover

CHENNAI: K.K. Nagar, one of the well-planned residential colonies in the city developed in late 1970s, looks literally green sans any greenery. The lush area has been worst hit by cyclone Vardah, which ravaged the city, especially its green cover. And four days after the worst-ever cyclone to hit the city in two decades, the K.K. Nagar locality is yet to limp back to normalcy, thanks to the uprooted roots that have not been removed and non-restoration of power supply.

As Deccan Chronicle visited the area on Thursday, teashop owner Nallathambi narrated his sad story of how the cyclone literally took away his shop. “My shop was completely damaged and I could not open it for three full days. I had to spend more than Rs 10,000 to repair the bunk and restart my business. I lost several thousand rupees in business in the last past three days and I have spent more than my capacity to repair the shop,” Nallathambi told this correspondent.

Residents of the locality are mostly indoors as roads and streets are filled with fallen branches of trees and adding to their woes is the darkness inside their homes. “The power went on Monday afternoon and it has been 72 hours since electricity has been cut-off. But still there is no trace of any worker from the TNEB. We don’t know when will we get back power.” Muralidharan, a resident, said.

Shady avenues are the identity of K.K. Nagar and now they are no more, repented M.S.A. Razack, president, 6th Sector Resident Welfare Association. “The damage caused by the cyclone to large, decades old trees is irreparable. It looks as if the area has not just lost its green, but its identity,” Mr Razack said, blaming Chennai Corporation officials of not being “active as they were during last year’s floods.”

Gnani Sankaran, political commentator and a resident of Alagiri Samy Salai in K.K. Nagar, recalled how the colony was set up in 1970s. “The area has 12 sectors, each with shady avenues running through it and a park at the centre. The roads were cleared of trees, enabling transportation on the night the cyclone hit. It may take a week to clean all the debris shattered by the cyclone,” he said.

Both Razack and Sankaran stressed the need for planting more saplings to bring back the lush to the area. Sivan Park, the biggest in K.K. Nagar, has lost most of its non native-trees like copper pod and most parts of the park stands open to the sky, losing its green cover. E.K. Pazhamalai, a road worker who was staying in huts built on platforms along the Sivan Park, has lost his shelter and had to live in the platforms for two days. The worker, hailing from Vridhachalam of Cuddalore district, claimed, “We ran out of the huts just few minutes before it was devastated, we had a very narrow escape.” Cycle paths built on Dr Lakshmana Swamy road and Ramaswamy Road of K.K. Nagar are piled up with fallen branches, trunks of trees.