Chennai: Metro sludge floods home

CHENNAI: Imagine the horror of waking up to cement flowing into your house, and covering the floors of all the rooms. This was the shock experienced by M. Yousuf, a resident of Washermanpet, and his family on Thursday morning. Residents of Muthiah Street in Washermanpet were up for a shock at around 6 am on Thursday as the sludge of cement entered one house and then started spreading onto the street.

The cement, it was suspected, flowed in from the underground metro rail work being done by Chennai Metro Rail Limited, after which senior officials including the assistant general manager rushed to the spot. “The thick cement-like substance was present knee-deep in the house where the incident occurred,” said B. Gopinath, the neighbour of Yousuf.

“There was some damage done, which the officials said that they will compensate for,” he added.  On Thursday morning, CMRL workers started clearing the area of the sludge. A number of barrels was filled with the resultant sludge, and the process lasted till Thursday evening.

As the work went on, residents from nearby areas started crowding the site to see the clearing process take place.  However, CMRL officials said that prior to the underground work, during instrumentation and monitoring rounds, the owner did not inform of the presence of a bore well.  “He did inform us about other two bore wells and those were sealed, but this one caused a leakage and the cement came spilling out,” said CMRL spokesperson R. Shruti.

“We have compensated him for the other two wells, and as this one was not informed prior, there won't be any compensation paid for today's damage,” said the spokesperson. She added that the damage has been controlled and the bore well has been sealed, and no further damage will happen.