A desperate move by East Kamaraj Nagar residents 

Agonised by rainwater and sewage entering his house during rainy seasons, N. Bhaskaran has demolished his 41-year-old house at Kamaraj Nagar Second East Street in Thiruvanmiyur and a new one is being constructed. For the same reason, his neighbours — V Nallathambi and M N.Mahendar — are getting ready the necessary papers to obtain permission from the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and other departments concerned so that their decades-old houses could be demolished and new ones raised in their place.

Another resident G. Nagarajan is going to lift his house at a cost Rs.20 lakh. Fed up with repeated complaints and with no solution in the offing, these residents have taken this major decision. A common feature of the plans for their houses is a stilt arrangement to keep rainwater at bay.

“We have been facing this problem since 2015. Like us, many of our neighbours who built their houses many years ago are enduring this ordeal. Water mixed with sewage remains stagnant around some houses at least for two months. Residents move to the first floor or elsewhere. Then comes the task of cleaning the entire house which entails a sizeable expenditure. So some have decided to demolish their houses and construct new ones,” says 84-year-old Nallathambi who spent Rs 15,000 for 15 days in clearing the sewage and cleaning his house during the 2021 monsoon. East Kamaraj Nagar (North) Residents Welfare Association is pursuing this issue with the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board and the Greater Chennai Corporation for the past two years.

The association comprises the four streets of East Kamaraj Nagar, Siva Sundar Avenue First Street and Siva Sundar Avenue Second Street.

“All these streets witness this problem. The sewage pipes are 50 years old and the stormwater drains 35 years old. Both these facilities are wornout and hence they need to be revamped completely. It is evident as sewage seeps into stormwater drains. It is two months since rains got over. But still stormwater drains are stagnant with sewage. Likewise, a telecommunication cable in disuse is blocking the stormwater drain on the nearby L.B Road. That also causes flooding in East Kamaraj Nagar. Due to this problem, renting out the houses is also a challenge,” says Mahendar, the association’s secretary.