The Deccan Chronicle 11.08.2010
Sewage flows on to posh roadsAug. 10: The spurt in industrial activity, particularly the mushrooming of automobile and IT industries, might have prompted policy-makers to call Chennai the ‘Detroit of India’ but the truth is that even posh areas in the city still remain vulnerable to sewage overflow.
Less than a week back, prime localities like Adyar, Mylapore, Mandaveli, R.A. Puram, Besant Nagar and Tiruvanmiyur, were heading for a near calamitous situation - overflowing sewage leading to waterlogging on the roads.
Wonder why? The lifeline of south Chennai’s sewer system, L.B. road pumping station, almost turned dormant after the concrete bed of its three high-power submersible pumps that discharge sewage out of the metropolis corroded.
In fact, the decades-old pumping station, that was originally meant to be shut down years back, was given a new lease of life in 2007.
The concrete bed of the multi-crore pumping station, designed to last 30 years, crumbled merely three years after capacity expansion. Admitting this, Chennai metro water managing director Shivdas Meena said the station was fully operational and a bend on the concrete bed had developed problems and it would be rectified in a fortnight. However, senior metro water officials, preferring anonymity, said the pumping station was shut down on August 6 and 8 and the board had repaired the concrete bed at its own expense though the contractor was accountable for any repair and maintenance works.
Metro water engineers refused to take up the pumping station work late 2009 citing defects, but yielded to pressure from higher-ups later, the officials quipped, expressing the fear that the concrete bed might develop cracks as repairs done under wet conditions are not long-lasting.
Even a brief cessation of operations in L.B. Road pumping station would throw the city out of gear, as the entire sewer system of posh south Chennai is dependent upon it.
