Chennai: Blocked pavements, un-motorable roads and stagnated water — Chennaites are forced to contend with these three days after Cyclone Vardah ripped through the city.
The city residents are up in arms against the civic body for its inefficiency in getting back things to normalcy. While the arterial roads were cleared within a day, the interior residential lanes remained unattended.
Blaming on the officials’ lackluster approach, residents have stepped out to clear it themselves. It took two days for the corporation to remove the debris, yet many places are isolated from basic amenities.
“Corporation officials are only focused on cleaning main roads; pocket roads were completely ignored,” said Anandan, a Saidapet-based auto driver, adding that Venkatapuram, a housing colony in Saidapet, stays isolated from any means of transportation.
Interior lanes in all localities including Guindy, Teynampet, Alandur and Egmore resembled a war-torn zone – with hanging electric cables and pulled out trees.
Apart from motorists, street vendors and hawkers taste the distress of Vardah as their lives went off track. “None of the authorities turned up yesterday. The fallen trees have destroyed many stalls,” said Ezhilraj, a street vendor.
Slum dwellers of Saidapet feel highly ignored by the civic body and continue to suffer in silence, with no one lending a helping hand. The trees that collapsed have destroyed a couple of huts and flooded their residences, depriving them of food and other basic amenities.
“We had to starve that night, wondering if this was a repeat of December 2015. We received no help from anyone,” said Selvam in a distressed tone. “The corporation had moved the debris to the sides and blocked the pavements. As the branches were projecting to the roads, it created a lot of problems to motorists,” said Sudarshan, an IT Professional.
