For the past nine years, the Local Administration Department has been maintaining the standard refrain that it was well-prepared to deal with the challenges posed by the monsoon, including new storm water drains to bail out the floodwater.
These photos, taken at the same spot show how waterlogging over SWDs can pose fatal risk
Chennai:
However, a visit by this newspaper revealed that nothing much has changed on the ground, indicating that the civic body has learnt nothing from past experiences.
In 2011, Sarala, a 24-year-old woman, died after slipping into the storm water drain in T Nagar. Three years later, V Muralidharan, whose bike fell into a storm water drain in Ambattur, resulting in his death. In recent years, there were also fatal cases reported from Tambaram and Pallavaram area.
According to V Sathiabalan, a social activist who has lodged several complaints against open storm water drains opposite his house in Jamalia State Bank Colony Second Street (Division 70), little has changed when it comes to the dangers posed by the drains. “Be it AIADMK or DMK regime, the attitude of officials and leaders over storm water drains have not changed,” he rued. These structures continue to remain fatal spots during monsoon, Sathiabalan added.
“The storm water drains in north Chennai are a death trap for pedestrians. People slipping into drains is nothing new but there is no remedy to the risk,” added D Sudhakaran a resident of Choolai.
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