Velachery declared a flood-free locality

Civic officials say the transformation was brought about because of infrastructure work

Velachery, which had become notorious for waterlogging until a few years ago, has become a flood-free zone, say civic officials.

The locality was designated as “Vellacheri” (flood zone) by administrators as every year rainwater stagnated for days on several streets. This year, despite moderate to heavy rains, there had not been many complaints of water stagnation, say officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation.

The civic officials say the transformation was due to infrastructure development work carried out in the locality, which is situated adjacent to Pallikaranai marshland, and with a topography on a low-level compared to the sea.

The flood-prone areas covered several residential localities in west Velachery and Adambakkam. A senior civic official said several infrastructure development work involving construction of stormwater drain (SWD) had been completed on streets which were waterlogged.

Also the stormwater drain network was linked with the waterbodies in the locality and cleaning of the drain network, including the canals located on either sides of the Velachery railway station, were taken up paving for the rainwater to run off the road.

Also the commissioning of the underground stormwater drain in Velachery-Taramani Link Road helped in faster evacuation of rainwater into the Buckingham Canal, the official added.

Geetha Ganesh, Secretary, AGS Colony Residents’ Welfare Association (ACRWA), said every year the residents of the area used to wade through knee-deep water whenever there were rain but this year was different with the residents heaving a sigh of relief as the roads remained wet and not waterlogged.

She thanked the officials of Velachery division and storm-water drain department of the civic body for construction of new drain on Sixth and Seventh main roads of AGS Colony and renovating the old SWD located at the junction of fourth Main Road and cross street.

A senior official of the corporation said in the coming years several residential areas covering Brindavan Nagar, Mahalakshmi Nagar, Andal Nagar, AGS Colony, and Bhuvaneswari Nagar, would have no water stagnation once the new sluice gate was fixed at the outflow point of Veerangal Odai.

The drain network flowed from the residential areas through the Kalkinagar into Veerangal odai. He said: “If the Veerangal odai overflows, the rainwater stops flowing into the odai and there are complaints of backflow due to overflowing water. So, a sluice gate is being constructed along with a pump room installed with a heavy duty motor to pump out the rainwater. The work of installing a sluice gate and pump room is being carried out at a cost of ₹30 lakh.”