Civic body yet to take action against illegal sewer connections
A damaged stormwater drain. (Photo: DC)
Chennai: Though the corporation spends a few hundreds of crores of rupees on desilting stormwater drains and constructing new drain structures, Chennai still finds its drains choked and overflowing.
This year the corporation has been slow in carrying out desilting work and despite allocation of over Rs 300 crore to identify and arrest illegal sewer connections, it is yet to take action on this.
Once again, it is those localities in the extended regions of the city which are bearing the brunt of the absence of a stormwater drain network. And with the monsoon about to set in, the roads are once again getting flooded and houses getting inundated in low-lying areas.
“The stormwater drains in our area were demolished and rebuilt several times by the corporation, but water still stagnates on the roads as the drains gets clogged with garbage,” says civic activist Thuyamoorthy, a resident of Tondiarpet.
“The network is confusing. It is really difficult to trace the origin and end of a stormwater drain,” he adds.
A corporation official said that the extended areas would benefit under the Rs 4,000-crore stormwater drain project being executed in the city.
The corporation has also taken loans from the World Bank to invest in the project. Officials from the World Bank met corporation officials on Friday to discuss various projects that are on the cards for Chennai and those already under way.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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