With 70% drain work incomplete, Chennai isn’t ready for monsoon

CHENNAI: City residents might have to brace for another deluge as the Corporation has left it too late to crack down on contractors of various storm water drain (SWD) projects, who are playing truant by deploying inadequate labour. With only fi ve months to go for the onset of northeast monsoon, 70% drain work is yet to be completed.
In the ₹120 crore missing links project, covering parts of Anna Nagar, Kodambakkam and Adyar areas, about 30% work has been completed while in several other areas, only 10 % work has been completed. For work under Singara Chennai 2. 0 scheme covering KK Nagar, Virugambakkam, Teynampet areas, for which tenders were fl oated in March, offi -cials had told the contractors to fi nish work before monsoon, but the ground situation suggests otherwise.
Only 20% of the drain work is completed in the ₹3,225 crore Kosasthalaiyar basin project, which covers nearly eight zones in north Chennai. Of this, projects worth ₹1,800 crore have been taken by just six contractors.
Several of these contractors, who have bagged multiple tenders, have deployed less than 50% of the labour agreed upon. RPP Sathyamoorthy, a contractor who has taken up work in four wards (26,33,64,66) has deployed only 34 workers against the required 157, a document stated.

Annai Infra, which took up work in ward 24,26,82 and 83 has also deployed less than 50% of the required labour.
Praveen Kumar, project manager of Anna Infra, said that only 50% of the labourers, who left due to the pandemic, have returned. “We are roping in additional members from Odisha and other northern states. Local people are not willing to join,” he said.
Arappor Iyakkam convenor Jayaram Venkatesan said that some of the contractors are not actual experts but just middle-men who took up the contracts and gave it to sub-contractors for lesser value. “It is yet to be seen how the corporation will make these contractors work. With the amount of work they have taken up, it would be a loss to the exchequer if tenders are cancelled too,” he said.
KCP Engineers, linked to former minister SP Velumani and booked in a DVAC case, has deployed zero workers against the required 11, in zone 2 of ward 22. “We are going to terminate KCP Engineer’s contract and are going for fresh tenders as no work has been done there,” offi cials told TOI.
Officials said they cannot terminate all contractors at one go because they have paid a mobilisation fee for the contractors to start work and bring in machinery.
A contractor needs to finish 33% of the work in the first year and the contract is for 36 months. “If they don’t keep up with targets, we are planning to impose a 5% penalty,” said the official.
H Chandra Bose, a grade-1 contractor with the corporation, said that carrying out work with lesser labour may impact the quality.
Corporation commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi said that the civic body is monitoring the attendance of labourers in site as per the mobilization targets given to contractors.
“Where there is sustained poor performance, we are taking penal action,” he added.