Chennai Citizen Connect: Stagnation, debris accumulation irk Thoraipakkam residents

CHENNAI: With a cyclone warning announced for Chennai and neighbouring districts on Tuesday, it was rather predictable that most areas, especially low-lying areas across the city would get flooded. However, almost a day after the rain had stopped, the residents of Sai Nagar in Thoraipakkam struggled as water stagnation persisted.

Speaking to DT NEXT about the current status of 16th Street, Sai Nagar in Thoraipakkam, a resident said, “People have no other choice but to keep their houses locked as the surrounding here is still stagnated with rainwater. This area is low-lying and is often prone to flooding during every Northeast monsoon. Despite several requests and complaints, no action has been taken yet.”

Explaining further, SM Govindarajan, the president of the United Residents Welfare Association said, “To assist the residents from any area of the city during the time of cyclone and flooding, we have set up a helpline 044 35901040; which will be functional till the end of the NE monsoon. We received the complaint from Sai Nagar residents through the helpline and they urged for swift department intervention.”

Govindarajan further explained that the debris deposited on the street had worsened the inundation. And, with close to 20 houses in the area, people are wary of continuing rains, he added.

“To resolve their concerns, I tried reaching out to the zonal officer of Sholinganallur and subsequently to the zonal monitoring officer allotted to respective zones, however, both could not be reached,” he said.

Govindarajan says he tried to reach higher officials of Greater Chennai Corporation or seek help from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) as well. “Besides all of them, I tried contacting both Sholinganallur MLA Aravind Ramesh and south Chennai MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian, but all efforts were futile,” he added.

Department officials could not be reached when contacted multiple times regarding the same.