Social welfare Minister: Flood situation properly managed

There really is no other way to put it. Chennai city is literally floating and snapshots from the city show motorists stuck in traffic, water flowing like a river on the streets, garbage piling up and inundated homes. Acknowledging the extent of damage, Social welfare minister B. Valarmathi, who has been the face of Chennai corporation’s relief work, spoke to Pradeep Kumar on the local body’s good work despite odds.

Valarmathi: It is quite natural that when it rains low-lying areas will be inundated. If you have noticed, there were many high level areas in the city which did not flood. But Monday’s issues were two-fold. One, it rained incessantly. Two, the

traffic.

Valarmathi: That is not true. Our workers are literally working without a break. There were a few reasons why workers could not get to affected places on time. As I said earlier, traffic jam was a big reason. Many of our workers were stranded.

Valarmathi: Flooding has reduced in a majority of the places. I agree that Anna Salai and Nungambakkam almost resembled a sea on Monday evening. But you can check that in all these places, not even a single drop of water remains. Even Kamarajar Salai was dry on Tuesday.

Valarmathi: There is no doubt that officials and workers are fighting against the havoc caused by monsoon. Wherever I go to inspect, I find our poor workers clearing the silt from manholes, clearing stagnant sewage. The damage is more once the water recedes because there are all sorts of garbage.

Valarmathi: This is not true. We could not have managed the situation had we not been prepared. We have conducted relief activity properly. The flood situation has been properly managed.