Every time residents of Othavadai Street in Tiruvottiyur walk past an overhead water tank inside the Chennai Port Housing Colony, they stay alert.
For many months, pieces of the disused tank have been falling on the street adjoining the compound wall.
The concrete overhead tank, nearly 100-feet tall, with 45,000 litres capacity was installed over 50 years ago at the staff quarters, where several families used to reside. Now, many of the houses have been demolished and only a few remain on the premises bordering Othavadai Street.
There are over 50 families living on Othavadai Street, and most of them are living in constant fear as cracks have started appearing on the pillars of the tank.
“Slabs from the tank have been falling off. People are afraid to walk past the structure,” said S. Damodaran, general secretary, Ambedkar Welfare Association.
There are two schools situated on the route, which is also one of the pathways to the V.O.C. Nagar railway station.
“Many children walk past this lane to and from the schools. If slabs from the tank fall on them, it will lead to casualties. Every day, we ask the children to walk past the tank carefully,” said K. Sekar, a resident of the area.
S. Karthik, another resident, said a sizable portion of concrete fell on a car last week.
“It was heavy and caused a dent on the car. Had it fallen on people, they would have died,” Mr. Karthik noted.
Women are afraid to fill water from a plastic tank that is situated on the road close to the compound wall.
‘No action’
“We gave a petition to the chairman of the Chennai Port, but there has been no action,” added Mr. Damodaran.
Officials of the Chennai Port said steps were being taken to dismantle the tank. “We are finding it difficult to get contractors,” said an official.
