As earth gives way at Egmore junction, a sense of deja vu hangs in the air

he cave-in has happened in a landscape that includes two spots where Greater Chennai Corporation’s Integrated Stormwater  Drain project hit a temporary roadblock in 2022; the current event has also impacted the SWD network

Though roundabouts make for free-flowing traffic, the presence of police personnel is warranted during rush hour, particularly when swarms of vehicles invade the roundabout. Around the evening rush hour, white-and-khakhi flannels are unmissable at the Egmore roundabout. In the evening of November 24, police personnel had to double down on their regular efforts as a section of the junction (where Northern Pantheon Road begins) had caved in. Greater Chennai Corporation officials were at the site.

Reportedly, the stormwater drain had been disturbed as a result of the cave-in. A linking stormwater drain, one made of precast slabs and travelling transversely across the junction and cutting through the edge of Police Commissioner Road in the process was in the picture. It links to an arched, brick-and-mortar stormwater drain on Northern Pantheon Road that harks back to British era.

The cave-in is just a sniffing distance away from two spots when the integrated stormwater drain project hit a roadblock. One spot is at the Police Commissioner Road where a CMWSSB pipeline had got into the crosshairs and was leaking its contents.

This event caused the SWD work to be put on hold. The other spot is on Northern Pantheon Road where the old British-era stormwater drain had to be kept opened up exposing pipelines and cables of other line agencies. Those conduits had to be put in order. The site of the cave-in is equidistant from both these spots.

In the evening hours of November 24, Internet service providers were working on their cables, and a representative of Greater Chennai Corporation at the site remarked work on closing the gaping hole would be undertaken the next day (November 25), after the other exigencies are addressed.