Chennai: Despite firsthand experience of the damage caused by the great monsoon of 2015, the Greater Chennai Corporation is yet to map out its stormwater drain network, whose non-maintenance proved costly in December last.
Officials involved with election duty bemoaned the “lengthy” code of conduct period enforced in the state. “Our work has been affected and with the council elections to follow, this year will be wasted effectively,” remarked an official.
The corporation still refers to the storm drain map which the Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University helped create for the old city limits way back in 2005.
“Most of the extended areas still do not have stormwater drains. Those zones which have mapped out its drains only have done so in bits and parts. There is a need to integrate and map whole areas using GIS or other technology,” said a senior official.
In line with this need, the local body administration is said to have initiated tender proceedings in order to bring consultants aboard and discuss an action plan. However, the model code of conduct came too soon. The local body could still approach the Election Commission (EC) and seek approval for the work but a sanction coming through is unlikely as sources claimed that the EC has unofficially conveyed to put any project approval on hold until a new government is formed.
What this means is that the local body’s smart city plans too have to wait for the expiry of the code of conduct rules. There is no clarity on the formation of a special purpose vehicle, which is responsible for implementing the T Nagar Smart City project. Even otherwise, T Nagar, which was one of the worst affected during the floods, has a disjointed stormwater network in its localities which, local body officials, insisted can only be corrected during implementation of smart city plan.
When asked to respond, Chief Election Officer Rajesh Lakhoni said that it was known that elections were to be announced in the first week of March. “The code of conduct is in force only for a limited period of time. [But] the corporation of Chennai ought to have planned [better],” he said.
