On the face of it, it appears as though the storm water drain work in Rathinapuri in Ward 49 is complete. Move from the main streets to the lanes and by-lanes, the picture is clear.
Most of the lanes and by-lanes are yet to have storm water drain. And, a good number of those also underground drainage facility.
Ward councillor Meena Loganathan says that the Corporation was yet to execute the work at Bharathi Street, Govindasamy Street, Kakkam Street, Sampath Street Cross Lanes, Velliappan Street and another dozen lanes and by-lanes because the contractors executing the work said that it had to be executed manually and that they could not do it.
There was logic to their decision because the lanes and by-lanes were less than five – six feet wide and machinery could not be used there.
The Corporation officials accepted the decision and promised to carryout the work manually. It had been seven months since the promise was made but nothing much happened thereafter. The result of the absence of storm water drain in those areas was that the residents continued to suffer choked, overflowing drains that did not withstand mild showers. And, then there was odour and other problems, Ms. Loganathan said.
Sources in the Corporation said that the civic body attempted to build drains there by first combing the estimates for all the drains, then dividing them into small packages for easy financial approval and finally regrouping them into project.
Ms. Loganathan said the financial planning alone had taken so much time that the work was yet to start.
The sources said that they were looking for the quickest possible way to get approval for executing the work. And, once they got the approval they would complete the work.