Storm water drain work leaves residents drained

Chennai: As the long pending storm water drain work in Manapakkam is still in an unfinished state, residents are bearing the brunt due to the delay in construction that has led to traffic issues and congestion in the area.

The storm water drain construction work was started last year post the calamitous December floods in 2015, which caused severe destruction to Manapakkam. When the work began, it caused inconvenience not only to locals but also to commuters from different parts of the city.

“We, the residents of Manapakkam, cry foul over the safety of commuting as there were unclosed craters and potholes that were formed because of the shoddy work done by the storm water drain construction, but our woes are still not answered,” said V.Nagarajan, activist and resident of Manapakkam. The river road and Manapakkam main road that are perpendicular to each other are heavily affected by traffic congestion due to the construction of storm water drain in that stretch, he added. Roads were not re-laid after storm water drain work due to which it created massive traffic issues. Though the construction was completed in some areas of Manapakkam, the roads were not re-laid. The plight is not over as residents are still witnessing some of the construction debris has not been cleared. Taking to DC, an engineer said, “Though the construction of such a drain would save the area from flooding, keeping it unfinished is not going to help. As the area had already gone through severe destruction in the last flood, it is now more prone to such calamities in the future”.

“The construction caused severe inconvenience to residents as it had given way for traffic congestion. We are facing a tough time,” said a local resident.

Yet to bounce back

The construction work started last year following the December flood in 2015 which caused severe desruction to Manapakkam.