Citizen Connect: Double trouble: Potholes, stagnant sewage on Flowers Road irk residents, commuters alike

For the past one year, the residents of Purasawalkam, as well as the commuters who use the busy road, have been put to hardship due to the pothole-ridden Flowers Road and the leaking underground sewage pipelines.

According to the residents and commuters, despite repeated complaints, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has so far not solved the twin issues. “This road has been constantly under repair. The sewage line, which pass underneath the road’s tarred surface, has blocks and the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) couldn’t zero it on,” said a tricycle puller in the locality.

He said that the road became narrow after CMWSSB dug it up in order to carry out works on the sewage leak. The potholes on the road too are left unattended as the road has been dug up in order to track the sewerage leaks and unblock the drainage.

Explaining the situation they are facing, a roadside vendor said, “Almost daily, a lorry would come in the afternoon to suck the sewage water and clear the block. I don’t understand why the civic body is delaying the sewage work. If they identify the area where it is getting blocked, they can clear it easily and lay the road.”

The vendor claimed that though the issue has got plenty of media attention for years, nothing has changed on the ground so far. “The sewage coming from the police headquarters would go all the way to Mullai Nagar via Otteri and fill the road if it comes in full force,” the vendor said.

The members of autorickshaw drivers’ association in the locality claimed that the officials had visited the area to look into the matter even last week. “We are getting used to travelling on the road that is filled with sewage water,” said an auto driver.

When DT Next contacted a senior official at Zone 8 of Greater Chennai Corporation, the official said the road is under CMWSSB maintenance and assured that he would look into it. When asked about the non-maintenance of road and sewage problem that has been there for years, as claimed by the residents, he denied the allegations and said the civic body is frequently clearing the blocks and a new road would be laid in the near future.