Chennai Citizen Connect: Stormwater drain works irk Sriperumbudur residents

CHENNAI: To prevent problems during the monsoon, the people of Sriperumbudur want stormwater drainage (SWD) to be constructed properly by relocating the electric poles.

Meanwhile, the highways department has begun repairing the road in Sriperumbudur's market area.

At first, stormwater drainage was being built on both sides of the roads, and 1.1 km of road repair work was undertaken for Rs 6.9 crores.

However, since there are electric poles on both sides they started constructing the SWD without moving them.

Adding to the woes, the SWD work is not being done in one stretch. The work is going at a snail's pace as it is being done in patches.

Now as it has started to rain often the water has started to enter the households and the road is also inundated by water seeping through the gaps which are left due to the unremoved electric poles.

The residents said that since 2015 every year Sriperumbudur has also been affected due to flooding and now constructing the SWD without proper planning will make the situation even worse.

“We welcome the government's move to construct SWD for us but at the same time, the work should be done in a planned manner without bringing the residents of the area any trouble,” said Karthikeyan, a resident of Sriperumbudur.

An official from the highways department said we requested the electricity board to relocate the electric poles before starting the construction.

“The electricity board did not start their work of moving the electric poles until now and at the same time, we also could not delay the construction work as the monsoon is approaching,” the official said.