Chengalpet Collector Inspects Lakes, Canals Near Residential Areas

Chennai: Chengalpet district collector M. Veerappan on Wednesday inspected the lakes, surplus canals and sluice gates in the flood prone areas around Guduvanchery as more rains are expected till October 26. He also inspected the arrangements including the machinery and equipment for rescue work in case of floods. The schools in the district remained closed due to the moderate but incessant rains in all the taluks.

The collector along with Chengalpet MLA S. Thiagarajan visited the areas within the Nandhivaram-Guduvanchery municipality and the villages within the Kattankulathur panchayat union. He came to the Nandhivaram-Guduvanchery municipality office where the machinery and equipment for flood rescue and relief is kept ready and he also operated some of them to check if they are functioning well.

He went to the surplus canal at Vallanchery near Meenatchi Nagar and instructed the water resources department officials to monitor them closely so that there are no blocks, since the blockage in the surplus canals of lakes often results in floods in the nearby residential areas. Later, he had a look at the Mannivakkam lake canal near the Vaikundan apartments, the Urapakkam lake, the areas near Mahalakshmi Nagar which is flooded every year due to the blockages in the surplus canals of the Nandhivaram-Guduvanchery lake. Last year, many areas including Amudham Colony, Ambika Nagar, Mahalakshmi Nagar, Jayalakshmi Nagar, Udhayasuriyan Nagar and Vishnu Priya Nagar near Guduvanchery were flooded.

He instructed the officials to work in such a way that the rain water is drained through the canals without entering the residential areas even during heavy rains. The Collector visited Kayarambedu and Vishnu Nagar areas which are often affected during heavy rains.

He inspected the precautionary measures taken by the officials and asked them to make arrangements for flood relief centres near the area.

On Wednesday, Chengalpet district witnessed only moderate rains in all the taluks from 18 to 36 mm with Mamallapuram and Madhuranthagam receiving more rains than the other taluks. Out of the 528 lakes maintained by the Water Resources Department, only one of them has more than 50 per cent storage while 388 have less than 25 per cent storage. Only 2 lakes out of the 584 maintained by the panchayats exceeded the 50 per cent storage and 439 of them have below 25 per cent storage. Out of the 2,512 ponds, only 8 have more than 50 per cent storage while 2,180 have less than 25 per cent storage.