Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Rain exposes civic bodies' inadequacies

Staff Reporter

Flooding, sewage overflow seen

CHENNAI: The heavy rain that lashed the city's southern suburbs exposed the lack of preparedness of the civic authorities.

The subways at Pazhavanthangal, Thillai Ganga Nagar and St. Thomas Mount were filled with water forcing motorists to take a long detour. The limited use subway for two-wheelers and cars at Tambaram was no different. The impact on normal life was reduced as Wednesday was a holiday.

Water stagnated on the recently re-laid Velachery Main Road. At Kamarajapuram, residents broke a portion of the centre median to force stagnated water flow to the other side. And near Mahalakshmi Nagar, knee-deep water slowed down the traffic flow. Residents from different parts of Velachery and its neighbourhood too complained of water stagnation.

While the 12 cm rain recorded at Tambaram till Wednesday evening was good news for the residents of many suburbs, those living at Nilamangai Nagar in Adambakkam faced reverse flow of sewage in their toilets. After a defect in the pump house, municipal authorities bailed out the sewage water to the Veerangal Odai. The situation was not new to them, as this is happening for the third or fourth time.The overflowing sewage has polluted wells in areas near the pump house. Rural Industries Minister B. Valarmati visited the site and assured the area's residents that Chennai Metrowater would take over maintenance of the pump house.

At Annanagar western extension, roads of Officers' Colony-TVS Colony overflowed with industrial effluents and sewage water that was reportedly let out in the storm water drains. Ambattur Municipality has taken measures to drain out the sewage.

"The water drains are not big enough to take the excess flow of water. Hence, we have requested the municipality to take the waste water through the big gutters constructed on the Ambattur Industrial Estate-Tirumangalam Road," says Sulochana Duraiswamy of TVS Colony.

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