CHENNAI: Officials had promised that by this time it would be better, but nothing has changed, complain residents of Velacherry as many parts of the locality are now under water after the rains in the city on Tuesday and Wednesday. While water from main roads are pumped out within a day, the interior roads are left waterlogged for days, they allege.
Ram Nagar North Extension Second Street, Venkateshwara Street, First Cross Street, MGR Nagar and Kalki Nagar Main Road are some of the worst affected areas. Every time it rains, stagnant water, mixed with sewage and garbage, makes roads unmotorable.
“Sludge mixed with rainwater enters houses and even into sumps. The officials had promised that this time would be better, but we experience the same ordeal after the heavy rains last week. “Last two months have been a nightmare,” said Ramani Mohan of Velachery. The Velachery Main Road outside Phoenix Mall gets waterlogged even after intermittent rains.
Also, due to the Velachery bridge work, the Main Road is slushy as debris from the work is mixed with the rainwater. Motorists say the engines seize while trying to drive through the water. With one of the biggest malls in the city located right beside the road and the stretch being an arterial one connecting Velachery with Guindy and Saidapet, the vehicle traffic is always high.
They say it takes them more than an hour just to cross this stretch during the rains. Adding to this, M Revathi, a resident of Ram Nagar North Extension Second Street, said, “The corporation officials pump out the rainwater from the main roads within a day. But the interior roads are left unattended for a long time. Also, the roads are battered in the rains making commuters prone to accidents.”
Last year, GCC had identified 681 locations of water stagnation and said measures would be taken to address the issue.Responding to the issue, an official from the Corporation said complaints regarding waterlogging could be sent through Namma Chennai application or phone and that they would look into the issues immediately. However, repair works could not be taken up due to Covid, the official added.