Residents blame Metro work for cracks in houses

Several buildings near Shenoy Nagar station facing the issue

Breaking apart: A resident of Thiru Vi Ka Colony pointing to the cracks in the wall in his house, which he says was caused by the Metro Rail operations. V. Ganesan

Many houses in Thiru Vi Ka Colony, located close to the Shenoy Nagar underground Chennai Metro Rail station have developed cracks due to Chennai Metro Rail work and operations, claim residents. The Shenoy Nagar station is part of the Thirumangalam to Nehru Park stretch where services began in May this year.

C. Senthilnathan, a resident of the colony for about four decades now, said, four years after tunnelling was completed and five months after the underground services began, new cracks have appeared in many of the houses. “We don’t know if it is because of vibrations from the running of trains or an after effect of tunnelling work. At first, when the tunnelling work was on a few years ago, cracks developed and subsequently officials repaired it. This occurred quite frequently till the tunnelling was over. Recently, after trains began running underground, wider cracks have emerged,” he added.

Shymala Daniel, a resident of the colony for 20 years, said, several wide cracks have developed in her bedroom and rear portion of the house. “Last monsoon, water started leaking from many places and the house was a mess. I’m dreading what is to happen this monsoon,” she added.

Another resident Manjula Anandhamoorthy said, apart from cracks, some tiles have come out and the floor has sunk by a inch too.

“Again after the cracks got bigger few months ago, we approached the officials who inspected first and subsequently called in experts from IIT-Madras, who saw the damage,” she added.

But after that, there has been no response from Chennai Metro Rail, they claim.

‘Awaiting IIT-M report’

Officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) said, running of trains underground can never cause such cracks. “The vibrations from the trains running underground won’t affect buildings; we already did a study to ensure this much before the services began. We are investigating what has caused this problem. As soon as we get a report from IIT-Madras, we will the next step,” an official said.

Meanwhile experts from the civil engineering department of IIT-Madras said, there can be various reasons — from settlement of soil to vibration from running of trains — that has caused the cracks. “Only after the entire study is complete, the reason can be categorically stated. But one of the few possibilities include settlement of soil from fluctuations in groundwater levels (due to tunnelling work). Only in extreme cases, vibrations from running of trains cause such cracks,” an expert, who did not wish to be named, said.

They have submitted an initial report to CMRL and only after a response from them, experts may be able to suggest the next course of action.