CHENNAI: With monsoon around the corner, uncovered stormwater drains are giving nightmares to the residents of Chitlapakkam, a suburb of Chennai. Their fears have aggravated after a boy fell into one of the drains on Saturday. In a CCTV footage accessed by Express, a young boy could be seen cycling along one of the streets of Chitlapakkam and falling into an open stormwater drain. Fortunately, the boy was rescued immediately by his grandmother who was near him.
The footage was shared in social media and people were asking the town panchayat to immediately close all the uncovered stormwater drains as they posed a fatal risk. Sunil Jayaram, a member of the Chitlapakkam Rising, an NGO, said the residents had made several representations to the town panchayat to close the uncovered drains, but no action had been taken.
“Sometime ago, a boy died in MGR Nagar of Chitlapakkam after falling into a drain. There were several instances of cows falling into the drains and being rescued later. When will the town panchayat take these issues into account?” he questioned. Images of cows falling into the open drains too were circulated on social media, pressuring the local body to take action.
Express earlier this year had reported about a car falling into a stormwater drain during the rains. The accident happened because the driver was not able to differentiate between stagnated road and drain. Jayaram said the drains are lower than the road’s height, posing more risk to children. “Many children return home from schools through these roads and they also play here. Keeping the drains open is risky,’’ he said.
Activists also said that the storm water drains are supposed to carry rain water but they only carry sewage as the town panchayat lacks an underground sewage system. When contacted, an official with the local civic body cited fund crunch as reason for not closing the drains. “We have not received any funds from the government to close the drains. We will place a request to the government again,” the official said.