Residents demand desilting of Velachery lake as flooding, infra issues remain major concerns

Residents of Velachery express concerns over flooding and development issues, while welcoming the MRTS extension.

Though Velachery became a separate constituency in 2008 after the delimitation exercise and has seen Assembly elections in 2011, 2016, and 2021, residents claim it remains undeveloped on various fronts.

Residents have voiced concern over the routine flooding of the area, which they attribute to poor maintenance of the Velachery lake and the encroachments choking it. In addition, they cite poor road conditions and the heavy traffic congestion caused by encroachments as pertinent issues. The recent Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) expansion though, has been welcomed.

The constituency comprises localities such as West Velachery, Taramani, Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, Besant Nagar, and portions of Kanagam and Adambakkam. A key constituency in the city, Velachery has developed into a thickly populated residential area with planned layouts, but its natural topography — it is a low-lying area — makes most of the residential localities vulnerable to flooding during the Northeast monsoon every year. This is attributed to the run-off from the Velachery lake, as discharge to the Pallikaranai marshland is blocked due to missing links in the storm-water drain network.

The lake, one of the biggest in the city, receives inflows from many residential areas. However, the absence of a bund on the north side, the failure to desilt and deepen the lake, encroachments, and illegal sewage inlets cause it to overflow within a few hours of heavy rains, leading to repetitive flooding.

S. Kumararaja, an office-bearer of the Federation of Velachery Residents’ Welfare Association, said the lake, which was once a boon for the residents of Velachery in maintaining the groundwater level, had become the bane of several residential areas along the Pallikaranai Marshland due to the lack of proper drainage facilities.

Mr. Kumararaja said a huge portion of the lake vanished after construction of the Velachery Bypass Road as encroachments sprung up, and the absence of a bund on the north side of the lake. Major political parties have made promises of desilting the lake for increasing storage capacity and renovating it into a boating facility, but the lake remains in a neglected state, bearing testimony to unfulfilled promises.