There is a constant buzz on the southern part of West Veli Street where the Corporation is building a multi-level parking facility-cum-bus terminus under the Smart Cities Mission. A couple of hundred metres away from where the demolished Periyar bus stand lie a row of dismal-looking flats, in stark contrast to the ‘smart city’ scheme of things.
Around 480 families reside in these ‘Melavasal apartment blocks’ constructed by Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB), in the place generally referred to as Thideer Nagar. In fact, there are two sets of apartment blocks here. The other one is the Tamil Nadu Housing Board apartment block behind the erstwhile TTC bus stand.
Picture of neglect is writ all over the TNSCB flats. There are mounds of garbage and heaps of cow dung all along the roads. A portion of the compound wall of the park there has collapsed. The play equipment are broken and the park is used as a pen for cows and goats.
The residents say overflowing drains and stagnant sewage have become permanent features of their neighbourhood. Repeated complaints to de-clog the drains were in vain, they say.
Sewage runs through open drains. “Due to stagnation, swarms of mosquitoes attack us in the evening. We are unable to keep them out even with mosquito repellents and nets on doors and windows,” says S. Saravanan, a resident of ‘L’ block.
A TNSCB engineer complains that the Corporation officials dug the drains as part of construction work at Periyar bus stand, but left them open.
The other major problem which haunts the residents is dysfunctional water pipes at their houses. “We have to climb four floors, after fetching water from common water tanks,” says 53-year-old M. Pandiammal.
V. Azhagar, a resident of ‘C’ block, says about half the motors in the complex are not working. “We have no other option but to fetch water from other tanks which leads to quarrel among us,” he says.
The Kiruthumal river flowing along the flats has become a depository of trash and sewage. It is clogged with plastic, dung, and sewage. The residents complain that there is no door-to-door garbage collection. “There are only two dumper bins which are placed at the entrance to the flats. So we just dump the waste into the river,” says I. Ilayaraja, a resident of ‘C’ block.
Contradicting it, S. Ganesh, a resident, says: “Most of the residents are Corporation conservancy workers. Why can’t they keep their surroundings clean?’.
The engineer says new drainage and water pipes are to be laid and a request has been placed with the Corporation to place more dumper bins in the complex.
