Life has become miserable for hundreds of residents of Boomianpet in Oulgaret constituency as the stormwater drain that runs through the housing board locality is choked with plastic waste and silt. The drain was built years ago to carry rainwater but poor maintenance over the years has come to cause concern.
Residents claim that both the Oulgaret Municipality and the Public Works Department (PWD) have turned a blind eye to the issue, and the agencies keep passing the buck to each other.
“The drain has now turned into an eyesore with plastic carry bags, water bottles and other solid waste floating in the foul smelling stagnant water. This has been the condition for the past few years. The local body should maintain the drain properly, or it will overflow during the monsoon and flood the flats in the locality,” said K. Parthasarathy, a resident of Boomianpet.
The drain is located close to the arterial Villupuram Road, and many people recklessly dump waste in the canal. The drain is clogged at several places because of waste, particularly plastic. It has not been cleared for long, allege residents.
“The stormwater drains were developed by the French to prevent inundation of low-lying areas during the monsoon. Puducherry has a network of such drains which also acted as boundary points in the neighbourhood. The huge chunk of plastic and solid waste in the drain remains a huge problem for the residents,” Mr. Parthasarathy said.
“The rainy season will bring a vast amount of plastic waste into the drain, clogging it and flooding the low-lying areas. There should be a permanent arrangement so that residents are relieved of the agony of inundation post monsoon,” said S. Nadarajan, a resident of Jawahar Nagar.
“The locality experiences regular flooding during the monsoon, and flood water mixed with sewage enters into our houses. Women and children are affected the worst. During floods, the line departments and even the Central team regularly visit the locality to assess the damage. Though repeated representations have been made to the authorities concerned, nothing has been done so far,” said N. Shanthi, another resident.
When contacted, an official of the Oulgaret Municipality said the residents were to be blamed for the choked drains. A number of residents in the Puducherry Housing Board flats had deviated from the original plan and constructed structures that encroach upon the sewage pipelines in the locality. This had affected the flow of water in the drain. The municipality would soon undertake cleaning of the drain, the official said.
