With work in progress, threat of flooding looms over parts of Velachery

Lack of desilting of storm-water drain (SWD) and damage caused to the drain network on the Station Service Road along the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) railway station at Velachery, local residents are apprehensive of flooding of several areas in the vicinity

Lack of desilting of storm-water drain (SWD) and damage caused to the drain network on the Station Service Road along the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) railway station at Velachery, local residents are apprehensive of flooding of several areas in the vicinity.

While a portion of the drain under the control of the Greater Chennai Corporation has not been desilted, the drain network running on both sides of the Station Service Road from Velachery to Taramani stations have been damaged and filled with piles of garbage and construction debris. 

The road, constructed by the Southern Railway, has a drain network through which the rainwater in division 177 in Velachery flows into the big culvert leading to the Pallaikaranai marshland.

The civic body has constructed a network of storm-water drains in Baby Nagar, Bharani Street, Annai Indira Nagar and Bhuvaneshwari Nagar, and linked it to the drain network of the Southern Railway. However, the storm-water drain on the Station Service Road has been damaged at several places with garbage and construction debris dumped, the local residents say. The Corporation is yet to take up desilting of the drain linked to the culvert at the Station Service Road, they say.

Social activist S. Kumararaja said the clogging of the drain network on the Station Service Road due to dumping of debris could result in back flow of the rainwater leading to flooding of several localities. He wanted the civic body to urgently take up desilting of the drain to prevent stagnation of rainwater. 

A senior official of the Southern Railway said the streetlights were executed and maintained by the civic body after the railways deposited the money. “Similarly, we have been continuously coordinating and requesting the civic body to take over the road and maintain it but are yet to get any positive response,” he said and added that the Southern Railway has written three letters in this regard to the civic body.