The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Southern Railway lets out untreated sewage into the open

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 10, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Southern Railway lets out untreated sewage into the open

K. Manikandan

From its pumping wells in East Tambaram A huge amount of untreated sewage is being let out on Bharatha Matha Street

OFFICIAL APATHY: Students of Jaigopal Garodia National Higher Secondary School have to wade through ankle-deep sewage discharged by Southern Railway on Bharathamatha Street in East Tambaram. — Photo : K.Manikandan

TAMBARAM: Several hundred school students are forced to wade through ankle-deep sewage to reach their schools in East Tambaram and Chitlapakkam.

Southern Railway, responsible for the problem, seems to have very few solutions at hand to redress the situation. A huge amount of raw and untreated sewage is being let out on Bharatha Matha Street from pumping wells operated by the Southern Railway in the East Tambaram side.

Students of Jai Gopal Garodia National Higher Secondary in East Tambaram and a section of students of the Government High School in Chitlapakkam have no option but to wade through the sewage.

Residents, elected representatives and parents are furious as there seems to be no remedy to the problem, though it has been persisting for a couple of months now. The entire sewage generated from the Southern Railway's facilities, which includes the Railway Colony as well as other establishments, is being drained into two collection wells.

It is pumped out into the open instead of being transported through drains to the Southern Railway's huge sumps near Tambaram Sanatorium railway station. Teachers at the Government-aided Jai Gopal Garodia School said they were aware of the problem but regretted that nothing much could be done about it.

They had raised it with Southern Railway officials in Tambaram and they planned to approach the higher-ups.

T.K.M. Chinnaiah, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam councillor of Ward No. 11 pointed out that the pumping out of sewage from the collection wells went on continuously in the morning, resulting in flooding of Bharatha Matha Street.

The sewage finds its way into the Chitlapakkam lake after passing through storm water drains in Wards 11 and 12 of Tambaram municipality.

Incidentally, the lake already bears the brunt of discharge of sewage from several areas of Tambaram municipality.

Southern Railway officials said they were aware of the problem and were taking steps to construct drains to let sewage into the sumps near the Sanatorium railway station.

Activists wondered how Southern Railway could let out untreated sewage in the open, and they sought to know if they would install at least basic treatment facilities from now on.

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