Perambur citizens group seeks corrective measures in ongoing SWD work

Stormwater water drain construction, carried out by the Greater Chennai Corporation, is making steady progress on Perambur High Road – North.

Perambur Neighbourhood Development Forum, a citizens forum, which is keeping a close watch of the work, has noticed some issues that can give room for waterlogging.

It requests GCC to correct the difference in road levels at the intersection of Venkat Raman Canal Street and Perambur High Road – North.

Until two decades ago, water used to flow from Venkatraman Canal Street, an interior lane, to Perambur High Road – North, an arterial road. But successive relaying of Perambur High Road – North without proper milling has disrupted the natural drainage gradients.

The forum expects the ongoing stormwater drain work on Perambur High Road to address this issue.

It may be noted that from time to time, Madras Hight Court has directed the government bodies to ensure that the height of the roads does not increase.

And the forum draws attention to an untreated raw sewage overflowing from the incomplete SWD on the stretch of Perambur High Road – North, between Saraswathi Square and Madhavaram High Road. The issue of a missing link of this incomplete SWD was also highlighted.

Attempts to locate the source of illegal sewage discharge exposed the deplorable state of the existing stormwater drain. This shows lack of coordination between the Greater Chennai Corporation and Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board.

The forum also highlighted the issue of encroachments and parking of vehicles over stormwater drains.

The manholes of stormwater drains get hidden and this hampers the cleaning and desilting of stormwater drains. GCC reclaimed public spaces on Perambur High Road – North as part of the ongoing work. But those spaces should be protected by providing a proper footpath with bollards or guardrails exclusively for the pedestrians. Attempts to encroach upon this space should be suppressed with an iron hand.

Another issue has to do with avenue trees. Recently, two people got injured when a tree collapsed. Vehicles also got damaged in that incident. The reason is the roots of the tree were disrupted and weakened due to the ongoing stormwater drain work.

These issues have been escalated on the occasion of the visit by the Zonal Office of Zone 6 – Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Executive Engineer, and Assistant Engineer of Ward 71 on October 1.

(Raghukumar Choodamani is the convenor of Perambur Neighbourhood Development Forum)