A majority of the residents in Ward 172 who reside at Kotturpuram, Chitra Nagar, Surya Nagar and Lake View Road have stark memories of the devastation that the floods wreaked there. And the aftermath has left a trail of civic issues which need to be addressed, they say.
While the majority of the areas under the ward are on the banks of the Adyar River, educational institutions which include Anna University, Anna Centenary Library, Birla Planetarium and other educational institutions dot the landscape there which is a contrast of slums, housing board apartments and upmarket residential localities.
“While more than half of the residents here have shifted to Perumbakkam in parts of Surya Nagar, there are still more than 100 families who are staying here because we do not want to leave our livelihood as well as education opportunities available to our children. As a result of the evacuation, there have not been much improvement works carried out,” said R. Vishesh, a resident there.
Stating that they were low-income families who largely depended on the facilities provided by the Corporation, he pointed out that the ICDS centre there for children and a gymnasium which had been damaged by the rains there were yet to be repaired.
“The wall of a graveyard here which collapsed during the rains is yet to be repaired and the residents have been asking for it to be rebuilt for a while now,” said Dhevaki, another resident there.
A section of residents in a few of the localities in Kotturpuram have taken garbage segregation and improving general cleanliness into their own hands. “We started a ‘Swacch Kotturpuram’ initiative and cleaned areas near bins as well as painted walls near them. While we are trying to motivate residents to segregate garbage, as a long-term solution, the corporation can pitch in by helping us set up a vermin-compost unit as we have already identified some space for the same,” said Chandra Prabhakar, Treasurer of the Nawab Gardens Residents Welfare Association.
While the congested lanes at Kottur are filled with retail outlets and vendors selling fruits, vegetables and other items on the sides of the road, Councillor G. Kandhan said that they would soon be shifted to the newly constructed complex of 43 shops that the corporation had constructed in Erikarai Salai.
“At the start of my tenure, I had also helped re-construct six buildings at the Kotturpuram Housing Board which were in a dilapidated condition. We are now working towards laying tar roads in parts of Kalinkundram as residents there did not want cement roads which were getting damaged by the constant movement of water tankers which supply water there,” he added.
