Civic body races to finish work, ensure a flood-free Chennai – Times of India

CHENNAI: Greater Chennai Corporation is working to ensure zero incidents of water stagnation in the city this monsoon. The civic body appointed IAS officers zonal level monitoring officials ahead of the monsoon, expected to set in around October 27, and has held three meetings to tackle the issue that invariably brings many areas to a standstill every year.
The civic body maintains 31 canals of which 16 are in core city areas and 15 in extended areas. All canals have desilted before monsoon. About 620km of the 1,894km length drain network, that includes about 3,842 drains, has also been desilted, said an official adding that the numbers are updated every day as the work is ongoing.
“We have men and machinery available and have deployed them in all zonal offices for emergency operations. Tree pruning is being carried out every day and we are monitoring the work closely by inspecting drains every day,” said commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi.
Critical locations where up to 2ft water stagnation is possible includes Kargil Nagar in Thiruvottiyur , Kailasam Street and Meenambal Nagar in Tondiarpet, Pullianthope High Road and Senthil Nagar in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Korattur North Avenue, Habibullah Road and R A Puram 1st Main Road in Teynampet, Bazullah Road, R K Shanmugam Salai in Kodambakkam, AGS Colony in Velachery, Selva Nagar and Semmencheri housing board in Sholinganallur and Ram Nagar and Mylai Balaji Nagar in Perungudi.
“There were 306 such locations in 2015 and they have been reduced to 23 after several interventions including storm water drain construction and other infrastructure interventions. This year, apart from just constructing drains, we have focused more on de-clogging major inlet and outlet points of all drains, canals and lakes. We have also de-clogged silt catch pits on all streets to ensure water doesn’t stagnate at all. This work is being monitored daily by IAS officials,” said Rajendiran, chief engineer and in-charge of storm water drains department.
He added that if there was inundation in some location due to reverse flow in the sea, the civic body will ensure that it is cleared in an hour using pumps and other machinery.
Apart from this, meetings were conducted with all line departments including public works, forest, TNEB and revenue departments to ensure there is coordination during the monsoon.