“It is the same old story here,” a section of vexed residents of Manapakkam said, as they narrate the problems localities in the western suburbs of the Porur–Poonamallee belt face every year.
Be it Manapakkam, Mugalivakkam, Kolapakkam, Moulivakkam, or Ramapuram, residents in all these places have given up on the State government that has fallen short of implementing effective flood prevention measures.
Dreading the monsoon
Professionals, pensioners and the new settlers alike living in this belt — that witnessed frenetic real estate development in the past decade due to launch of special economic zones with software companies — dread the day when the monsoon is expected to set in, which is a few days from now.
“We were miserable in 2005 and the following year. There has been no improvement over the last decade with 2015 seeing the worst of it,” says R. Natarajan, a senior citizen of Manapakkam.
He was unable to enter his ground floor residence for three days and spent over a week clearing the slush and filth that had invaded his home from the overflowing Mugalivakkam channel.
“I was among the lucky ones, as there were some people who could not step out of their homes for over a week,” he said.
Residents here are of the view that the creation of the Chennai Bypass and the construction of massive high-rise residential and office complexes blocked the natural flow of rainwater into the Adyar river.
A group of residents carried out an independent audit of the 14-kilometre Manapakkam Canal that drains surplus water from Porur Lake into the Adyar river and the Mugalivakkam channel — a two-and-a-half-kilometre drain that joins the river at Manapakkam.
According to the residents, encroachments, accumulation of silt and growth of vegetation arrested the flow of water, resulting in inundation. “We expected the government to carry out desilting on a war-footing, but we were left disappointed. With just a handful of workers and earth-movers, it was impossible to get help,” residents said.
The Manapakkam Channel has shrunk from 40 feet at its deepest point to less than six feet at many spots owing to encroachment of its bunds, residents alleged. With time ticking away towards the onset of the north east monsoon, the government wasted precious time and have not restored the channels, residents lament.
