Chennai Metro Rail officials have begun investigating a suspected oil leakage from underground along the median near the Holy Dargah Hazrath Syed Moosa Sha Khaderi on Anna Salai.
CMRL officials said that as soon as they received information about a blackish liquid that surfaced below the central median on Anna Salai, they placed a few bags of sand to absorb the liquid.
The officials ruled out the possibility of an oil leak due to tunnelling. “It can’t be due to underground Metro Rail work as tunnelling work in this part of Anna Salai was completed over 18 months ago. We are investigating as to the source of the liquid,” an official said.
While the Metro Rail’s tunnel does pass through this area, the construction of underground Metro Rail stations, under progress, does not. “The two TBMs in Anna Salai are currently boring near Church Park School,” an official said.
A similar incident, though, had occurred a month ago when similar liquid emerged very close to the spot where it happened on Sunday, another official said.
Sewer damaged
Meanwhile, the CMRL officials have begun repair of a sewer line damaged underground near Head Post Office on Anna Salai. A week ago, Metrowater officials started getting repeated complaints about sewer blocks. When checked, it was found that a pipeline had been damaged and that the resultant blockage could have been there for several months.
“The sewer pipeline was laid about 30-40 years ago and had suffered damage for a length of five metres due to Metro Rail work,” said a Metrowater official. They duly informed CMRL officials.
When contacted, CMRL officials said the tunnelling work in this area too was completed more than a year and half ago.
“May be the block was there for sometime without getting noticed. The repair work has been taken up and will be over in another week,” said an official.
