The floods may have robbed millions of Chennaiites of their belongings but it has made the some boatmen, who ferry stranded residents to safety in parts of South Chennai, rich.
Alfred, who was rescued along with his family from his house in West Tambaram, said that the boatmen were charging anywhere between Rs 10000-Rs 30000 a trip. “The ground floor flats were completely submerged. People are stranded on the terraces and on top of water tanks. The government took no effort to rescue it. We had to entirely depend on private boatmen,” he says.
Alfred, an IT professional, says that around 300 people live in his apartments in West Tambaram, which is a little further away from the Chennai bypass road. So, who did the rescue work? Untrained local vendors and shop owners have put their lives on line and have been involved. He further said the residents were taking a huge risk by getting on to these boats but are left with no choice.
“There are only two kinds of boats. A small boat used by fishermen in lakes and a large motor boat that came from Kasimedu. The smaller boat was a nightmare to travel in as one had to keep pouring the water out of the boat to keep it on water. The owners of the larger boat weren’t really interested in rescuing people as much as they were in making money,” he said.
