CHENNAI/VELLORE:Sreshan Nair and his family now stay at the Hotel Shan Royal in Koyambedu — but they are not tourists visiting Chennai. Their house is hardly five kilometres away at Mogappair. His is one of the families from the Tarangini Apartments, who had taken shelter at a hotel since the apartment had no water or power for three days since the cyclone Vardah hit the city.
“Four families (from the apartment) are staying at this hotel now, but I am sure many more are put up at other hotels. Those who have relatives here have moved in with them, but we have no option but to shell out Rs 6,600 per night — one room for my children and another for my wife and myself,” he says. Tarangini Apartments relies only on groundwater. Since there is no power, the nearly 150 families from the apartment have abandoned the building, taking shelter wherever possible.
The cyclone might have passed the city, but since electricity, and hence water supply, is not back in many parts of the city, residents of these areas are yet to resume normal life. For bachelors who stay in the city’s suburbs and on the outskirts, it’s a struggle to get food, thanks to ever-crowded ATMs and card swipe machines rendered useless due to poor network. “I had no option but to eat only bread yesterday as I could not withdraw cash or use my card; but I’m fine now as I managed to borrow cash from a friend,” said Poorni, a youngster residing at Ambattur.
About 20 km from Ambattur, the parents of Priya, a 10-year-old Narikurava girl, were busy tying tarpaulin sheets over portions of their house, which was damaged by the cyclone. “Without electricity, we were unable to sleep. The mosquito menace and fear of other insects entering the house kept us awake most of the night,” said Priya. Along with Priya’s, 54 Narikurava families at Amma Nagar, Poonamallee, were living with no electricity and water. They survive on just rice porridge, tea and biscuits.
In Vellore district, residents of 35 villages in Cheyyar and Vandavasi taluks had no power supply for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday. The contractors blame it on the withdrawal limitation set by the banks due to cash crunch. “The banks give out only Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per day to contractors, which is not sufficient for them to pay the rent for earth movers and workers,” said the official explaining the delay in the restoration process.