A week after! Residents living as refugees

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

A week after Chennai witnessed a heavy downpour, most of the areas in the heart of the city are still inundated with residents forced to live as refugees.

The area in Valasaravakkam, which is knee deep in water, stinks as septic water is mixed with rain water and has inundated in Arcot Road, one of the arterial road. Schools are inundated in the area and residents are using boats in many localities.

While residents are pooling in money to cook food, there is no power in their locality and many of them, who are well off, have hired a generator. “It costs Rs 5,000 for two hours of generating power. We use it so that water can be pumped into the Sintex tanks on the roof,” says Lawrence, a member of Majestic Colony Association.

“We are not well off neither downtrodden. The government should ensure that the stagnant water is cleared. It is more than seven days and the situation is pathetic. There are nearly 10,000 houses in the surrounding which are inundated,” said Veena Ramakrishnan of Veerappan Nagar.

The inundation has resulted in people losing patience and some have even staged dharna many a times but help is still far away. Veena said that she would be organising a dharna along with her neighbours and other affected people so that the rain water which has been stagnant for last one week is removed.

Here food is not an issue. The major concern is the stagnant water. It has not receded n this area which has puzzled many residents who allege encroachments have blocked the way from where the water could recede.

Most of the neighbourhoods in Valasaravakkam and Alwarthirunagar are nearly empty. At some areas like Choudhary Nagar, men stay at home while they have booked rooms for their families at a Guest House. “They charge Rs 1,500 a day. We don’t have any option,” says a retired auditor from comptroller and auditor general’s office. The areas that have been affected include Bethania Nagar, Lambert Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Senthamizh Nagar, Velan Nagar, Anbu Nagar, Ramapuram, Chaudhary Nagar, Majestic Colony, Meenakshi Nagar, Thiru Nagar and Janaki Nagar.

Interestingly, despite the inundation, many people are reporting to work. Wading into water, hoping that concerned officials would act on their pleas to clear the inundated streets and roads, they are going to work. But there is no respite.  “We have to go to office. We hope officials are kind enough to ensure the water is removed,” said a resident. The situation is grim and if it rains again then Valasaravakkam could be paralysed and so too the city infrastructure. “It doesn’t look like the issue would be resolve soon,” says Saptarishi, an advocate.

The inundation has choked Arcot Road and traffic is moving at a snail’s pace due to inundation. The street near Vembulli Amman Koil is pathetic as people wade through chest deep water. Gautami, a TV actress blames the failure to clean up the storm water drain. But most of the people blame Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority for being lax in town planning.