Committee submits city flood management report to Stalin

CHENNAI: A committee headed by retired IAS officer V Thiruppugazh on Tuesday submitted its final report on flood management in the State capital to Chief Minister M K Stalin.

V Thiruppugazh, anIAS officer who had once worked under Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the latter's stint as Gujarat chief minister, accompanied by State Chief Secretary cum his brother V Iraianbu, submitted the 600-page report comprising 11 chapters to the CM at the State Secretariat.

The report, government sources disclosed to DT Next, had recommended reforms to the regulatory framework and improved gauging of climate change induced flooding and techno-legal regime in mitigating flood management in Chennai. The committee, which is learnt to have elicited the views of 500 resident welfare associations, is understood to have suggested review of the city's solid waste management policy and community based solutions to manage flooding in the city.

Arivudai Nambi, a member of Thirupugazh committee and director of World Resources Institute, told us that the committee had also factored in best practices followed in countries like Malaysia and South Korea and even consulted experts in flood management in the countries while preparing the final report.

Among the solutions propounded by the committee are optimal use of social media in flood relief and putting in place an effective early warning system to prevent damage to life and properties of the people during natural calamities like floods experienced in December 2015. The committee has also proposed area-specific detailed long-term flood management plans for 600 and odd vulnerable areas in the city.

Realignment of the flood carriers and storm water drains in tune with a "nature based system" (design of drains/flood carriers in tune with the gradient of the city's terrain) and prevention of sewage discharge into the city's storm water drains have also been detailed by the expert committee, a government source revealed. Underground storage of rainwater in feasible areas in the city and enhancement of storage in the basin areas in Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu and Ranipet that feed the city's water bodies have also been recommended to the government. The committee has also thrown light on the lack of regular consultation between the Disaster Management Authority and other state departments in the absence of disasters/floods. A government source with knowledge of the report said that the committee has recommended regular dialogue between disaster management authority that functions independently and other stakeholder departments of the state government.