Urban News

Several pockets of Ram Nagar North, Srinivasa Nagar and nearby Sivaprakasa Nagar continue to battle the aftermath of the recent rains in Madipakkam, falling under the Ullagaram-Puzhuthivakkam municipality limits.

M Murugan, a resident of Tirugnanasambandar Street, whose house had been surrounded by stagnant rainwater, rued that even getting out of his residence required a painstaking effort. “For children, who have to attend school, it is even more difficult. They have become more susceptible to infections as they wade through the knee-deep water,” he said.

According to K Ganesan of Annai Teresa Nagar, water-logging on the streets and the bad road conditions had made motoring a problem. “The roads here, in the interiors, have always been bad. The rains have worsened it. Even reaching the nearby Ramalinga Nagar bus stop is back-breaking,” he said.

Lack of storm water drains and clogged or encroached traditional outlets, to dispose floodwater in the Pallikaranai marshland, have made the rain water to stagnate in the neighbourhood, putting the residents to inconvenience.

According to municipal authorities, action was being taken to pump out the stagnant water. “We cannot do anything regarding stagnation on vacant plots. Drains have been cleaned up using loaders to allow the floodwaters to reach the nearby Veerangal canal,” an official said.

In reply to a question on the bad condition of the roads, he said that pucca roads could be built only after the completion of the work on the underground drainage, likely to commence soon. However, new roads were being laid in many places, considering the inconvenience faced by local residents, he added.