Officials drown Chennai to protect private patta land, says CAG report

Chennai:

Chennai downed in 2015 due to release of 29,000 cusecs of water without abiding by Central water Commission norms as Water Resources Department wanted to protect a private patta land in the water spread area from getting submerged, according to a Comptroller and Auditor General of India report.

According to Compendium of Rules for Regulated Tanks, WRD should store water at the Full Reservoir level in December and it does not allow presence of private patta land inside water spread area.

“The patta land was required to be acquired for ensuring storage of water till the full capacity of reservoir. It was observed that the full tank capacity of Chembarambakkam was 3.645 TMC at a storage depth of 24ft. However, the same was not achieved on December 1 and December 2 as water was stored only up to a maximum of 3.481TMC leaving 0.164 TMC of remaining capacity unutilized to protect protect possible submergence of patta land on foreshore area which was in absolute violation to Compendium of Rule and regulations,” the report said.

“The state government has stated on May 2017 that considering the cost of acquisition of patta land, a proposal to enhance the bunds in the foreshore of the tank was in pipeline. However, the documentary evidence was not available for audit,” the report states.

“Had WRD acquired the patta land, the storage capacity could have been maintained to its fullest and magnitude of flooding could have been reduced as more water could be stored in the reservoir,” the report added.

WRD sources said that if the government had acquired the land, then the reservoir could have been deepened and floods could have been avoided.

The report also said that scrutiny of periodical Inspection report on safety of Chembarambakkam Dam conducted and submitted to Dam Safety Directorate revealed that wireless communication facility was not functioning for more than six months prior to Chennai floods in 2015 highlighting WRD did not possess adequate emergency preparedness plan as envisaged in the Dam safety Procedure.

The report also castigated WRD for failing to assess the areas prone to floods, flooded areas, damages to property and lives from the period 2012-16 and furnishing it to Central Water Commission (CWC) as recommended by Nationbal Flood Commission.  As a result, WRD did not have comprehensive plan for flood prevention measures such as construction of revetments, spurs and embankments and CWC was not facilitated to scientifically issue flood forecasts.

What the report said;

1.  The indiscriminate release of water was done to protect private patta land.

2.  This was a serious failure in operation of reservoir and it contributed to Chennai floods

3.  The discharge of 29,000 cusecs of water for 21 hours coupled with surplus water in upstream tanks and catchments caused huge disaster for Chennai

4.  The state lacked a law on Flood Plain Zone and an updated Water Policy to protect natural waterways

5.  Though Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Building Rules, 1972 had envisaged for maintaining 15m buffer zones from margin of waterways, the Second master Plan of CMDA failed to demarcate flood plain zones to regulate construction along waterways.

6.  Failure of WRD to create two new reservoirs in  upstream of Chembarambakkam tank as recommended by Nucleus cell for flood mitigation

7.   Encroachment of tank, lakes and river beds played a major role in causing floods