Finish stormwater drain work before rain, earn goodwill: Councillors
CHENNAI: Several councillors speaking at the monthly council meeting on Friday urged the corporation to complete stormwater drain work expeditiously as it would help them earn people’s ‘goodwill’. Apart from minor issues such as desilting of drains and delay in removing silt from the desilted spot, the works were largely satisfactory, they said.
AIADMK councillor KPK Sateesh Kumar of ward 182 said the corporation at present has only one sucker and jet-rodding machine for five zones. “This would create problems in wards such as mine with drainage facility issues. It would become a big problem in rainy season. The corporation should take steps to provide one nachine for each zone,” he said. Mayor R Priya, who headed the meeting, said the corporation will hold talks with the department concerned and take action.
Ward 4 councillor S Jayaraman also asked the corporation to provide temporary links for incomplete stormwater drains. “The stormwater drain projects taken up in Kosasthalaiyar and Kovalam basins are expected to be completed in 2024. But temporary links will be provided to ensure there are no problems during monsoon,” said corporation commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi.
K Kannan of ward 138 said while the corporation has done a good job by taking up massive stormwater drain works, only their proper completion will get a good name from the people. “The Mayor should call for a joint meeting with Tangedco, metro water and police departments, among others. We feel that though desilting was done, the work was not thorough as machines couldn’t dredge all of the accumulated silt. Workers, too, cannot enter manholes due to court order,” he said.
Replying to this, the commissioner said the corporation has reduced the distance between manholes to five metres to make desilting easier. “We have desilted nearly four times more drains compared to last year,” Bedi said.
Praising the DMK government for taking up stormwater drain work on a marathon scale before the monsoon, ward 134 councillor Uma Anandhan of the BJP said she would like to place on record her sincere appreciation for CM MK Stalin, municipal administration and water supply minister KN Nehru and health minister Ma Subramanian.
Permission to build libraries
Several councillors urged the mayor to get permission from the government to allow them to construct libraries using their funds. K Kannan of ward 138 said the corporation should also consider setting up of libraries in parks. The mayor said while the possibility of setting up libraries in parks will be explored, they could try putting up a shed for newspapers.