Chennai: Despite stormwater drains, waterlogging batters Kolathur – Times of India

CHENNAI: Residential areas in and around Narayanapuram and Sunnambu Kolathur, located on the Thorappakkam – Pallavaram radial road have one thing in common – overflowing of rainwater on the roads and stagnation of this water in the open plots.
Residents in both areas complained that the stagnation and overflowing on the roads posed a major health hazard.
The onset of the northeast monsoon, which is expected to begin from Wednesday, further confounded the fear of the residents.
S Hari Saravanan, a resident of Narayanapuram said that the corporation had built the stormwater drains to allow the flow of rainwater. However, the rainwater gets stagnated in the open plots in this residential locality.
Another resident in the area said the stagnation is mainly due to the clogging of the newly built drains. A section of residents had diverted the waste water to flow into the stormwater drain, which led to the clogging.
Residents made submitted several petitions to the corporation authorities, but so for no action. All they had to do is to lay a drainage from the open plots to allow the flow of stagnant water into the Narayanapuram lake, which will solve the problem, they said.
Attempts to contact the local Corporation AE Manoharan proved futile as his mobile number was switched off till this report was filed.
In the other area Sunnambu Kolathur the state highways authorities have constructed the drains and during rainy days, the water is flowing on the interior roads and get stagnated. One of the worst affected areas is Viduthalai Nagar. Chennai corporation limit ends two streets before this locality.
The residents are unable to identify the reason for water stagnation on their roads. One of the residents Hari Kumar said: “Even last week when there was rain in the area it got stagnated. Due to this the residents were unable to step out of their houses and faced many problems.”
When contacted State Highways authorities said the drains were constructed as per the prescribed size and norms.
Along this stretch, the stormwater drains are connected to the Narayanapuram lake.
“Till now we have not received any complaints about diverting domestic sewage into the drains. Kovilambakkam panchayat authorities have to look into the issue,” said the official.