Several localities under Pallavaram Municipality have been floating in sewage for the past week, with residents unable to venture out of their houses. The rains which lashed the city last week have exposed the quality of work on the underground drainage (UGD) network, with rainwater and sewage overflowing from manholes and flooding several streets.
Many localities to the east of GST Road like Hasthinapuram, Nemillichery, Chromepet and Nanmangalam are the worst affected, with a portion of the sewage pipeline caving in at Jain Nagar.
Jain Nagar Extension, Nemillichery High Road, Balasubramaniam Street, Mettu Street, Maruthi Street, Karikalan Street and Arul Murugan Nandavanam Nagar are overflowing with sewage. The sewage poses a health hazard to the residents. The pumping station located near Arul Murugan Nandavanam Nagar in Nemillichery, which is meant to pump out the sewage water, has been shut down.
T. Dhinakaran, president, Arul Murugan Nandavanam Nagar Residents Welfare Associaition, said the quality of life of the residents in the locality had been compromised, as they were forced to put up with the consequences of constant stagnation of sewage on roads and in vacant plots. At the pumping station, the transformer is flooded and, as a result, no motors are working to pump out the sewage. The compound wall of the pumping station has been broken to let out the sewage.
While maintenance staff of the Pallavaram Municipality could be seen working on Mettu Street to remove blockages, several streets in Kurinji Nagar including Nedunchezhian Street and Karikalan Street were flooded with sewage water.
2,000 houses affected
Kanchi S. Ganesan, a social activist from Hastinapuram, said more than 2,000 houses were affected by the non-functioning of the pumping station and overflowing sewage. He faulted the Pallavaram Municipality for putting up a pumping station adjacent to the sluice gate of the Nanmangalam lake, leading to flooding of the station.
A senior official of the Municipality said the pumping station was working and maintenance staff had been deputed to various places.
V. Santhanam, a social activist of Chromepet, said even before the heavy rain that lashed last week, sewage pipelines laid by the Metro water had actually broken in places, leading to road cave-ins. He pointed to a big portion of a road in Jain Nagar where the broken pipeline had been replaced with metal pipes.
