CHENNAI: Five years after living in a private integrated township with over 1,200 units, the residents of Bollineni Hillside have realised the severe waterlogging problems that follows a brief spell of rain. The residents of this township in Perumbakkam housing 4,000 people claim that the lack of a planned drainage system and no connect on to nearby canals results in flooding even during mild showers.
On Saturday, over 1,000 families protested at the township, urging the builders to come out with a solution. Poor rainwater harvesting systems, sub standard sewage treatment plants and slow dismantling of surrounding compound walls are some of the issues the residents raised.
“We are still trying to recover from the trauma after the floods, and though the recent rains though were a respite from the heat, it only brought back memories of the floods,” said a resident. “Even after the mildest showers, there is waterlogging here and for the two days of rain, there was knee deep water stagnated here.” The resident fearing the stagnation of water in his house moved his family into a hostel nearby.
According to a press release by the apartment association, the Hyderabad-based developer BSCPL Infrastructure has marketed the apartment with promise of infrastructure including sewage treatment plants and several amenities and services which have not been fulfilled.
“The company had collected around `10 crore by way of corpus fund and `2.5 crore as maintenance advance, which has not yet been handed over to the association even after six years,” as mentioned in the release.
In addition, the residents say the entire township has been constructed with no thought to the natural gradient so water from neighbouring land flows into the community and that the developer issued a notice terminating maintenance services despite the problems.
The residents have planned a protest named ‘Save Our Homes’. This protest by residents was kickstarted on May 28 (Saturday) and they plan to look into the issue with legal intervention.
Is Builder to Blame?
The developer marketed the buildings with promise of all facilities including sewage treatment plants and other amenities which have not been fulfilled, say residents
As part of their Save Our Homes agitation, the residents of Perumbakkam township are thinking of legal intervention