Citizen Connect: Perambur residents wary of inundation as road height keeps increasing due to lack of milling

After keeping road relaying work on hold for a very long time, the civic authorities have now undertaken the work with such haste that many stretches are being re-laid without milling. As this increases the height of the road and thus results in houses on both sides of the road being at a lower level, residents are worried about inundation and flooding in the coming monsoon.

According to residents of Subramanian Road and Kannabiran Koil Street in Perambur, these stretches have been laid again without milling, leading to an increase in the height of the road. Over the years, said the people there, the height of the road has gone up by a couple of feet due to this. This makes their houses prone to flooding and drainage issues, they rued.

“Due to this, the height of our street has become so elevated that water flows into the nearby premises even after a short spell of rain. The civic body has been relaying the road without milling the surface. Over a period of time, this has led to huge height difference between the houses and the roads,” said Manohar S, a resident of the locality.

Residents also complained that the storm water drains were choked with garbage and thus dysfunctional. Because of this, inundation is likely in the coming monsoon season, they added.

“As the drains are dysfunctional and due to the elevated road level, rainwater flows into the residential complexes leading to inundation. The sewage water seeps into the sumps and the wells of the nearby apartments and pollutes the water. Authorities should bring down the height of the streets below the ground level of the residential buildings and individual houses,” said R Jagan, another resident of the locality.

The residents have requested the intervention of the higher authorities to ensure that all the roads in the neighbourhood are properly milled before resurfacing. However, the issue remains unaddressed for a long time.

“Over the last couple of years, the residents of Perambur have been raising our concerns on this issue with the officials at the local level as well as the CM’s Special Cell. All we are seeking from the local administration is a quality public infrastructure, which would guarantee that this area is free of flooding during monsoon,” added Raghukumar Choodamani, a resident.

However, when contacted, the zone level officials justified not milling all the roads. According to them, tar is laid over few stretches to strengthen the base course of the road.