The Chennai Corporation has accomplished a challenging job, with help from Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL).
Unable to bale out water in SIDCO Nagar in Villivakkam for the past few days, Chennai Corporation turned to CMRL on Thursday for assistance. “The CMRL machinery started operations to bale out water on Thursday evening. The water has receded on many roads,” said Corporation Commissioner Vikram Kapur.
Chennai Corporation has been using seven boats, 20 pumpsets and 500 workers for rescue operations in the area. But more than 75,000 residents continued to be marooned in Villivakkam SIDCO Nagar, forcing the civic body to deploy additional manpower to cope with potential public health challenges. Doctors were also rushed to the locality on Wednesday to prevent the outbreak of diseases.
Stormwater from Korattur continued to flood thousands of homes on 99 streets, crippling normal civic life in the area. As the situation turned worse on Thursday, the civic body decided to use advanced equipment from CMRL sites in the city, getting instant results.
Engineers also decided to dig canals on roads to drain the water from the low-lying area which was developed in a vast tract of land that used to be part of a lake until a few decades ago.
“Large parcels of land reclassified for alternative land use in Villivakkam for the sites and services scheme by the government have been inundated,” said an official.
Thousands of families started purchasing homes at affordable cost in such areas after the World Bank offered funding for the housing development scheme with ‘cross subsidy.’
An official said that high income homes were sold at rates higher than market price and low income homes sold at affordable prices in such areas.
The challenges stemmed from poor planning, which included having urban development in lake areas.
The Corporation is supplying food to each of the affected households.
