CHENNAI: Officials in Iyyapanthangal are playing blame game while residents suffer from ill-health and disease owing to stagnant water, which facilitates breeding of mosquitoes. The plot in question is an unidentified piece of land lying between the residential areas of Oil Mill Road near Iyyapanthangal where constant water stagnation and encroachments cause grief to the residents.
“I filed a petition to remove the water stagnation and encroachment soon after the Vardah cyclone,” said Senthil Kumar, a resident of Iyyapanthangal. “Even after months, the water remained stagnant and we were unable to pass through the area, due to encroachments and blockage. But, no action was taken by the officials. After repeated notifications, the Revenue department cleared a few encroachments, which later returned to the same spot.” The underground water pipeline cuts through the centre of the land, raising doubts if stagnation is due to water soaring from the pipes. When Express spoke to the former and present Village Administrative Officers of Iyyapanthagal, they were defensive.
“Our department does not hold the authority to clear the area,” they said. “If stagnation is caused due to water soaring, the Public Works Department has already taken necessary steps for it. We did the needful and guided the petitioner to meet other departments too. Metro Water Department and village panchayat should take the matter in their hands.”
Further, when Express spoke to the Village Panchayat Officer and Block Development Officer, they said that if required, the needful would be done from their side.
“We had our officials visit the site numerous times,” they said. “The land is a portion of VGN Nagar and Ashok Brindavan Nagar, both are approved layouts. The Krishna canal runs between the land, and the Metro Water is responsible for taking action.”
In response to this, the Metro Water said the land is not under their jurisdiction. Adding to the issue is the fact that no one seems to know to whom the land belongs to!
“This land has been in this condition for years now,” said a woman who runs a shop here. “I heard the owner is in the US.”