Minister, MLA Flag Gaps in Monsoon Preparedness at Kanchipuram
MLA Harish also questioned the delay in deploying vehicles for monsoon preparedness in his constituency
CHENNAI: Minister and Alandur MLA Harish on Thursday questioned officials over delays in monsoon preparedness works, including desilting of canals and the allocation of vehicles for flood response, at a review meeting chaired by the Kanchipuram Collector.
The meeting of the district coordination committee, attended by Mayor Mahalakshmi Yuvaraj, additional collector Ashiq Ali and senior officials from various departments, witnessed sharp criticism of the pace of preventive works ahead of the northeast monsoon.
K. Thennarasu, minister for non-resident Tamils welfare and Sriperumbudur MLA, said he had inspected flood-prone areas, including Varadharajapuram and Ashtalakshmi Nagar in Kundrathur union, over the past two days. While the Adyar canal had been desilted properly, several other canals remained uncleared, he said.
Residents in these areas faced flooding every monsoon, and the authorities had failed to take adequate preventive measures, he said. Officials should immediately desilt the remaining canals and ensure that people were not put to hardship during heavy rain. Residents had been regularly approaching him with complaints, and such a situation should not continue, he stressed.
MLA Harish also questioned the delay in deploying vehicles for monsoon preparedness in his constituency. Though he had sought at least two vehicles for relief and preventive work, officials had told him that only one vehicle was available, he said.
Pointing out that Alandur was a large and important constituency, he urged the officials to pay greater attention to flood mitigation. He questioned why vehicle allocation and other preventive measures were being delayed when the works should have been completed before the onset of heavy rain.
Following the criticism, Collector D. Sneha asked the officials to explain the progress of ongoing works and specify when they would be completed.
The officials informed the meeting that water body restoration works were under way at eight locations in Kanchipuram, six in Sriperumbudur and two in Uthiramerur. Desilting of the Manimangalam canal was also in progress, and the works were expected to be completed within a week, they said.