Chennai’s storm water drains: a subterranean magic bullet? 

While the Greater Chennai Corporation has embarked on an ambitious project of constructing new stormwater drains across the city in a seemingly impossible timeline for flood mitigation, residents express hope that the inconvenience caused at the execution stage will be worth the outcome

Last Tuesday, when residents of Fourth Main Road of Kasturba Nagar at Adyar in Chennai rushed out of their home, startled by a loud noise, their frustration with the condition of the road they were putting up with for nearly a month worsened.

The noise was the result of earthmoving equipment disturbing the underground electric cable. With the entire stretch of road dug on one side, the carriageway has been reduced by half. Many apartments have been unable to take out their vehicles, even in a medical emergency.

The residents of this road are, however, not alone in facing this predicament as hundreds of city streets and roads are in a similar condition. It has become impossible to commute a few kilometres in Chennai without being forced to take diversions because of work along the roads. 

The unprecedented rain and flooding witnessed by the city last year prompted the Tamil Nadu government to take up the construction of stormwater drains as a top priority following the recommendations submitted by retired IAS officer V. Thirupugazh. 

The construction by the Greater Chennai Corporation is in full swing. The projects in the Kosasthalaiyar Basin (covering areas such as Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram and parts of Madhavaram) and the Kovalam Basin (covering Chennai’s southernmost areas) are expected to get over only by 2024. 

However, the GCC has embarked on an ambitious plan to complete the work in the Cooum and Adyar basins, covering the central and south Chennai, by this September before the start of the northeast monsoon. Officials acknowledge that the work, which should have taken at least 12 months to complete, is being targeted for completion in four to five months. 

The project, which is being executed at a breathless pace at multiple locations, has invariably resulted in a lot of inconvenience to the residents. Business enterprises at some locations have complained about reduced access to their shops or having to shut them down owing to the digging of roads right in front.