Deccan Chronicle 09.11.2009

Cemented roads block water, houses inundated

Chennai, Nov. 8: The northeast monsoon that lashed the city during 2008 and the hardships that accompanied it still linger in the memory of Chennaiites. This year also the residents are enduring its backlash with several areas remaining inundated.

Though a mega project worth Rs 1,600 crore integrating the entire city stormwater network expected to bring a final solution to floods was declared last year, the project is yet to take off.

Several areas of Vadapalani, Koyambedu, Virugambakkam, Valluvarkottam, Anna Nagar, Trustpuram, Choolaimedu, Puliyur and Kodambakkam have been worst affected.

According to Gopal, an autorickshaw driver of Trustpuram, Kodambakkam, the authorities laid the inner roads with cement, which helped many, mainly senior citizens and children, walk safely.

“However, the contractor did not give importance to the level of road or space for water to flow through. The end result is that rainwater flows into our houses instead of draining outside,” he said. “Though we have notified corporation authorities, it looks like another flooded season. A minimum of two hours of continuous rain is enough to make our lives hell since we cannot even cook due to hip-level water in the house,” said Rajalakshmi, a resident near Choolaimedu.

Corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said all flood relief projects declared last year, that includes improving the stormwater drain system, were completed before the monsoon. “The integrated stormwater network project which would give a final solution to the flood situation was sanctioned by the Central government in August. The two-year project would commence in January 2010,” said Mr Lakhoni.

Deccan Chronicle 09.11.2009

Road repairs on war-footing

Chennai, Nov. 8: Chennai mayor M. Subramanian on Sunday launched a door-to-door campaign to prevent the outbreak of any epidemic in the city and distributed chlorine tablets and pamphlets to create awareness about waterborne diseases among the public at Royapettah.

Mr Subramanian, who inspected the cooking centre at Gopalapuram, said the corporation had distributed 2.15 lakh food packets to the public, prepared in 19 cooking centres.

A senior corporation official said as on Sunday evening, 3,437 people were screened in 24 medical camps in the city. He said in order to prevent mosquito breeding, fogging was done in the waterlogged areas. The corporation has undertaken on a war-footing road repair works in 160 damaged city roads.

In suburban Eranavur, a railway overbridge on the Ennore Expressway was partially damaged and vehicular movement suspended. Several parts of the western suburbs including Ambattur, Annanur, Thirumullaivoyil, Avadi and Pattabiram were inundated. The situation was worst near Ambattur lake. Poor urban planning and concreting of roads at Annanur resulted in flooding of Sivasakthi Nagar. There were also frequent power cuts. Areas such as Velachery, Perungudi and Kottivakkam remained inundated for the second consecutive day, affecting normal life.

The vendors at Koyambedu wholesale market said they incurred huge losses over the last three days due to the rain. The fruit market recorded a loss of Rs 2 crore for three days while the vegetable market posted Rs 30 lakh loss for the same period. However, prices of all fruits and vegetables have softened by Rs 2-4, compared to previous weeks.