Kapaleeswarar Nagar residents go to court over SWD work

They want the Corporation to drop its plan of constructing stormwater drains in their neighbourhood

Kapaleeswarar Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association has filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court seeking a directive against the construction of stormwater drains at Kapaleeswarar Nagar in Neelankarai on East Coast Road. With repeated representations to Greater Chennai Corporation to drop its plan to construct stormwater drains failing to yield results, the Association has resorted to a legal course.

The Greater Chennai Corporation and the German development bank, KfW Development Bank, have proposed to construct stormwater drains in South Chennai at a cost of ₹1,200 crore through East Coast Road connecting Kovalam Basin. Kapaleeswarar Nagar is among the neighbourhoods on East Coast Road that come under the purview of this project.

Residents of Kapaleeswarar Nagar have opposed moves to construct stormwater drains in their locality for the following reasons.

“There is a 23-feet natural downward slope from East Coast Road to the sea which allows for draining of excess flood water. The soil is sandy and hence absorbent. In our representations to GCC, we also pointed out that even during the 2004 tsunami and 2015 floods, there wasn’t waterlogging in our area. In addition, it will be against the interests of rainwater harvesting. Through stormwater drains, rainwater is allowed to go into the sea. But we want to conserve rainwater and thereby recharge the groundwater table. Hence we don’t want stormwater drains for our locality,” says Rohit Menon, secretary, Kapaleeswarar Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association.

Further, the Association has pointed out that there is no site-specific drawing for Kapaleeswar Nagar and therefore contractors will construct the drains according to their convenience.

“In the localities where stormwater drains are constructed, sewage flows through it and pollutes the water-bodies and sea. Funds meant for SWD work can instead be used to provide us with underground sewage drains and piped drinking water supply. We are buying water cans for cooking and drinking purposes. Besides, we spend so much towards cleaning the septic tanks in our houses. As there was no reply from GCC to our requests, we decided to file a writ petition in the Madras High Court,” says Rohit.