Residents protest: Corporation releasing excess water into locality draws ire
Chennai: Three weeks after cyclone Vardah devastated the city, residents of West Tambaram are up in arms against the civic body and the revenue officials for releasing the excess rainwater to the locality from East Tambaram.
As much as a thousand people from 20 localities demonstrated at Perungalathur on Saturday and demanded a comprehensive stormwater drain network in the suburb.
Residents of West Tambaram have experienced flooding in their residences for about four days, courtesy rainwater that entered from East Tambaram.
Explaining the ordeal, a resident of Perungalathur said, “Our houses were in the incessant rain that poured for three hours on December 12. However, the actual reason was because the officials had let the water from the east to the drainage network here.”
Engulfed in the dark and experiencing the entry of poisonous snakes, localities in and around West Tambaram faced a tough time. It was the same locality that bore the maximum brunt of floods in 2015.
Resident welfare associations, which formed a committee, to protest against the negligence of civic issues demanded a solution at the earliest. “We end up being the victims for the official apathy. We want the civic body to construct storm water drains at the earliest,” said Pudhu Makkal Nalvazhvu Sanga President, R. Madhavan.
When Deccan Chronicle contacted Tambaram municipal commissioner R. Madivanan, he said, “Water from East Tambaram is let into West Tambaram, for it to reach the Adyar river through Papam canal. The designed sewage canal project with a Rs 2.60 crore budget is planned at Maduravoyal bypass to —Vaniyan Kuttai and Mudichur —is delayed due to the model code of conduct during assembly elections.”
He assured that the project would be completed at the earliest. Residents also put forth the issue of flooding at Tambaram - Mudichur Road, due to the absence of underground drainage here. The proposal is delayed for over five years by the state highways department stating that a four-lane road is on the plans.
