Injambakkam presents a picture of contrast. Especially during the monsoon. On the one hand, there are well-laid tar roads lined with beautiful houses and lush green trees. When the rains lash them, they are more picturesque. On the other, this very same neighbourhood has localities, where monsoon paints an unpleasant picture bringing civic inadequacies to the fore. One such locality is Bethel Nagar.
With the recent spell of rain, most of the streets in Bethel Nagar have been inundated. Lack of proper roads, sewage connections and stormwater drains compound the problem.
“Whenever it rains, water gets into our houses and remains stagnant for a few days. Snakes come swimming into our houses. We have a tough time removing them. We are not talking about one or two snakes, but many of them,” says Thangam, a resident of Bethel Nagar. Sulochana and Jayanthi say that with the streets submerged in knee-deep water mixed with sewage, the dress gets dirty the moment people step out of their houses. “ Every time I go out and return, I suffer a bout of itching. I keep on applying ointment,” says another long-time resident. A few residents have bought construction rubble for a price and have raised a mound-like surface around their house to prevent water from flowing into their houses.
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Garbage could be seen floating around on the stagnant water. “It is cumbersome to collect the waste. We use a spade to gather the garbage and plastic wastes and put them inside the bins. It takes a long time,” says a conservancy worker who has to ride her tricycle on the road which is ridden with potholes. “It is hardly two months since the roads were relaid, but today the stretch has given way,” says another resident.
To prevent traffic snarls, the Neelankarai Police Station works in association with Corporation officials. “We have the numbers of Corporation engineers and seek their assistance whenever necessary,” says police official M.S. Bhaskaran.