CHENNAI: After five cave-ins on a single day, Anna Main Road in KK Nagar has become extremely unusable, forcing Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerages Board (CMWSSB) to take up large scale repair work.
This follows Tuesday’s review meeting chaired by SP Velumani, Minister for Municipal Administration and Water Supply. Corporation sources told Express that the sewer lines beneath the road has several leaks and mere plugging would do little to prevent further cave-ins in future. As such, Metro Water has initiated the process of replacing the damaged lines with new sewer lines.
“The issue was raised at the meeting. It is estimated that the road needs to be dug up to about 30 metres long, 10 metres deep and three metre wide. This is like digging the height of a three-storey building,” the source said. “This meant closing the road for traffic. The soil is too weak and another cave-in is not in anyone’s interest,” the source added. Anna Main Road connects other areas such as Nesapakkam and Ramapuram with KK Nagar. The cave-in on November 20 left gaping holes on five locations in the stretch and they were covered up by dumping earth. This was after the 20 metre wide hole on November 1. Incidentally, the nearby MGR Nagar road too had caved in recently.
A weakened sewer line laid in 1996 with leaks in multiple locations is believed to be the reason for the cave-ins. The metro Rail work is also on in that area.
Metro Water officials told Express that the leaks have been plugged in four locations and work is on at the fifth, which required digging up to eight metres. The level of damage is being assessed and rectification might take up several weeks.