Construction of storm water drains (SWDs) and desilting of the existing ones have prevented inundation in Ambattur zone. Residents said that storm water drains were in place to prevent rain water from entering their houses.
The Chennai Corporation constructed storm water drains on Oragadam Road, Old MTH Road, and North Park Road recently. And just a week ago, the drains in Padi and Mogappair West were desilted.
Also, there was no water stagnation in North Phase of Ambattur Industrial Estate as SWDs were constructed at a 10-feet and more than 8-feet depth on First Main Road and in adjacent localities.
Water stagnated in places where SWDs were blocked with garbage. V. Perumal of Gnanamurthy Nagar thanked the Corporation for de-silting the open-drain found along the service road of Chennai Bypass Road.
Residents of erstwhile Ambattur Municipality said though the storm-water drains are being constructed and roads being laid, the SWD network would remain incomplete. While welcoming the construction of SWDs in Murugappa Reddy Street and Ganapathi Mudali Street, they said that these drains should be properly linked to take excess inflow of water to nearby ‘Thangal’ in Vijayalakshmipuram. Residents of Oragadam Road complained that the storm water drains constructed on their road was incomplete and the locality remained inundated.
They pointed out that the SWD was not constructed for a small stretch from Red Hills Road to their road. Instead the workers had dug up the road in a haphazard way and left it uncovered. Now with the onset of monsoon, heavy flow of water from Red Hills Road fills the half-completed SWD. Another resident said that there was no quality assessment and the poor quality in construction allowed the greywater to overflow on to the road. A college student, V. Sathya, said that SWD construction on Vadivel Mudali Street was badly executed. “The construction is closed in some places and remain open in other portions,” he said. According to Corporation officials, of the total 931 km of SWD, 463 km have already been de-silted. Tenders have been prepared to de-silt and repair 333 km of SWD and canals. Various important links in the network have been de-silted. New link drains are being constructed in Nungambakkam, Ganesapuram, T. Nagar and Purasawalkam, the officials said.
A Corporation official said, “We are also de-silting canals to prevent water logging. Water stagnates in Korattur, Padi and Mogappair as they are low-level areas.”
