Not a drop of water will stagnate on Saidapet Bazaar street: Velu

CHENNAI: PWD and Highways Minister EV Velu on Sunday said that the work on the stormwater drain in Bazaar road at Saidapet would be completed by Tuesday if the rain stops today.

Inspecting the water-logging at Saidapet here with Health Minister and local MLA Ma Subramanian, Velu said that the Highways Department has taken up construction of the SWD through precasting for 200-meter length from Anna Salai to Bazaar Road- Jones Road at a cost of Rs 1 crore.

The SWD work could not be completed due to last week's heavy rain, he said, adding that the SWD to be linked to the Adyar river. “If the rain stops today, we will take up the work tonight and tomorrow night. The work on Bazaar street could be done only during the night as it would be busy in the morning time. We will complete the work in two nights as it would be done through the insertion of precast. Once the work is completed there would not be a drop of water on Bazaar street,” he told reporters.

When asked about the delay in the work completion, he blamed the previous AIADMK government which proposed the works but did not allocate the funds for it. ”After coming to power, we reviewed the project and initiated works. The delay was due to the previous government. We were working day and night to complete the works to ensure no water-logging takes place due to rain,” he said.

He said that to complete the work on time, they were awarded contracts for each work separately. “We instruct the contractors through the officials to apply for tender for another work after completing the work on hand first. In the tender act, there is no provision to dissuade a contractor from participating in multiple tenders,” he said.