
In 2015, residents of Venus Colony in Alwarpet were rudely awakened by a flood that entered their homes and rose to over two feet. The next four days and nights were traumatic with rainwater inside houses and no power, food or drinking water.
Later, it was learnt that the water accumulated in Anna Salai and Teynampet had been diverted by the corporation officials to this area. The water from areas as far as Stella Maris College and several colonies beyond it, despite protests by the residents earlier against such a plan, was diverted to a single stormwater drain on Sriram Srinivasa Road. The route for the water to go through was by Luz Church Road to Buckingham Canal, the path had been partially blocked by metro rail construction.
From January to August 2024, the corporation took no steps to avert a repetition of such a disaster. Resident associations were holding dialogues with the officials in charge. Suhasini Maniratnam personally met the government’s senior officials with an appeal for help. In response to a new storm, a water drain to connect Murrays Gate Road to a collection point on Eldams Road was built in a record time of 10 days.
The residents invited Regional Deputy Commissioner (Central) Praveen Kumar, who met them on September 3, when over 100 residents gathered to present their requests and suggestions. Works like desilting stormwater drains, reconstructing a defunct drain, and constructing temporary drains to bypass tree roots that were blocking the drains were taken up and are monitored by him through periodic visits around the area.
After a short spell of heavy rain on October 15, two major cave-ins on TTK Road and Chinnamba Road were recorded. The arch drain on TTK Road is said to have been built in British times. It has caved in more than once in the recent years. The major causes of such a mess are,
Lack of a scientific study by experts, area-wise, to plan the routes for stormwater drains and sewage lines.
Neglecting major channels in the city like Buckingham and Mambalam canals which are choked by debris and garbage.
Failure to build anew half-a-century-old waterlines commensurate with the burgeoning population in every locality. Stormwater drains have been built in the last few decades in an unplanned, ad hoc, and uncoordinated manner.
Raising road levels by two to three feet, whereby all the rainwater flows into buildings and plots on either side. Roads should be the main channels to take rainwater to the nearest canal. The concept of taking rainwater only through drains is illogical and impractical.
We hope the corporation comes up with a plan to divert rainwater from far-flung areas and prevent it from reaching a single point in this area.
Sujatha Vijayaraghavan
(Sujatha Vijayaraghavan, a bilingual writer, has published short stories, poems, articles, plays and travelogues. Her book of articles on the environment was released in 1999 by present CM M K Stalin.)