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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Monsoon set to stir memories

City Bureau

Memories of inundation and various diseases flood back to the city’s psyche

— Photo: V. Ganesan

DESILTING DRIVE: A view of the mounds of garbage, plastic and silt cleared from a stormwater drain along the Velachery High Road on Sunday.

CHENNAI: The onset of the northeast monsoon is only a few weeks away. Every year, the city’s roads get water-logged and houses in low-level areas are marooned. Commuting becomes difficult. There is the threat of diarrhoeal diseases and mosquito-borne fevers.

The heaviest rain in recent years came in 2005 when the city received nearly three times the normal rainfall received during the northeast monsoon. The monsoon during the next two years was tame compared to that of 2005 but water-logging problems still continued. According to Regional Meteorological Centre data, the normal rainfall for Chennai from October 1 – December 31 is 75 cm.

Storm water drains are crucial flood water carriers. However, most of them are clogged with garbage and are full of sewage. Chennai city has a storm water drain network of about 850 km.

According to Mayor M. Subramanian, a total of 462.10 km of storm water drains in the city had been desilted as on July 30. Desilting of 114.97 km was under ay and another 290.64 km of drains needed to be desilted before the monsoon.

The city has several flood-prone areas. Velachery in the south and Pulianthope, Vyasarpadi and Perambur in the north are vulnerable spots. A closer look at some of these localities shows that there is much to be done in terms of preparing for the deluge.

Federation of Velachery Welfare Associations Secretary S. Kumararaja said the departments such as Chennai Corporation, Metrowater, Public Works Department and the Highways were in a state of slumber, as not a single work pertaining to monsoon preparation has started.

Although Velachery is well known as a locality prone to flooding, a number of works are pending: desilting of storm water drains, improving the capacity of sewage pumping stations and cleaning the culverts of the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road. In west Velachery, the construction of storm water drain network has been proceeding slowly.

A.Veerappan, a resident of Vijaya Nagar in Velachery, said the Velachery Canal, an important flood water carrier, has become a dumping yard for garbage and an outlet for sewage. The canal drains out the excess rain water from the Velachery Lake into the Pallikaranai swamp. Mr. Veerappan alleged that the PWD had completely neglected the canal and that it had become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

T. Anantharajan, a resident of Velachery and a retired professor of Anna University, said that a number of tail-end areas in Velachery faced backflow of sewage water during the rains, as the sewage pumping stations could not manage the extra load when rain water entered the sewers.

One of the main problems faced by residents is the lack of reliable transport facilities. However, the operation of Mass Rapid Transit System has come as a boon for the people in the southern suburbs. V. Rangan, a resident of Velachery, wanted Southern Railway to extend the train services during night time, at least during the rainy season, as the MTC buses suffer breakdowns. However, he said he was unsure whether the tracks at the Velachery MRTS station (where the tracks are not elevated) would remain above water in case of heavy rain. “If the tracks are flooded, MRTS services may also be disrupted,” he said.

Canal cleaning

North Chennai is more affected than the south during the rains because the localities are more congested.

The Otteri Canal, maintained by the Public Works Department, is yet to be desilted. Perambur resident S. Lokabiraman said unless the Otteri Nullah was deepened below the level of stormwater drains, desilting of the drains would not serve their purpose and water would back-flow into the drains and roads.

V.C. Rajasekaran, Pulianthope zonal officer (Zone 3), said that tenders have been floated for desilting of four small canals maintained by the Corporation and the work would be completed by the end of September.

The zone has about 178 km of stormwater drains and about 50 per cent of them have been desilted. Tenders were floated as Corporation staff alone could not complete the work before the monsoon, he said.

Sunil Sanghvi, a resident of Broadway, said the maintenance of storm water drains on Wall Tax Road had reduced water logging in his area. However water stagnates in places like Thirupalli Street and Chinna Thanduamman Koil Street even for the smallest downpour. “There is no way for the water to flow. These roads seem to be at a lower level than that of the nearby roads.”

Basin Bridge zone (Zone 2) chairman V. Shanmugasundaram says that of the 17 bus route roads in the zone, desilting has been completed in storm water drains along 15 roads. Of the 120 interior roads, desilting of drains along 94 roads has been completed.

The project to construct of stormwater drains in Kolathur in Ayanavaram zone is scheduled to be completed before the onset of the monsoon.

“The storm water drain construction work cost about Rs. 4 crore and we hope this would mitigate flooding here,” said zonal officer C. Bhoominathan.

A.N. Sachithanandan, a former Dean of School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, said that in Chenani nine metre wide roads are not usually normally provided with drains as it is presumed that water will flow and reach drains on wider roads. However, these narrow roads also require small drains, he said.

(With inputs from Kannal Achuthan, Deepa H. Ramakrishnan and R. Srikanth)

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