By Arun Lakshman Chennai, November 21st : .Chennai and nearby areas have been inundated by water following heavy rainfall in the past fortnight.
The water mixed with petrol and sewage had reached several homes.Chennai is experiencing this phenomenon year after year, while summer is dry.In summer, colourful pots are lined up in front of a water tap waiting anxiously for the right time to refill them.
Sudharani is a software specialist who works for a MNC.She told IANS that she lives in TNagar, and works at OMR.Last week was difficult.Water got into our houses and other areas, mixed with petrol and sewerage.This has been happening for several years and anyone who comes to power turns a blinder to it.Poor planning and the contractor-bureaucrat-politician nexus is creating this problem and and unless this is dealt with strongly, Chennai as a city is lost.”
According to her, the city languishes for water in summer and residents have to wait long to be able to pick up water from either the private or corporate suppliers.
With 400 deaths, the 2015 floods caused by rising waters were worst in Chennaites.The floods caused destruction of property, submersion of vehicles, and the use boats as transport.
The rulers did not seem to learn anything from this.Changes in weather patterns and environmental concerns mean that depressions are common features of the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Gulf of Bengal.
This can lead to heavy downpours or westerly winds.
According to available data Chennai has 2780km of roads, but only 1,894 km of water drains.
To flush out the water properly, the Planning Commission recommended that water drains be constructed to a maximum length of 5000km.However, nothing has been done.
The 1,894km water drains would have received the majority of the water.However, the drains are clogged with garbage and plastic.
The water does not get out of these drains properly because there is no way to clean up the garbage and plastic.
Two freshwater rivers exist, Adyar and Cooum.Both are clogged with garbage and plastic.All the waste water flows in them because they aren’t cleaned.They become filthy from stagnant water, another reason why the water does not drain properly.
The Madras High Court has decided to make the Pallikarani marshland a Ramsar site.
However, some areas of the marshy land, which could have been a sponge for water, are now a concrete jungle, with buildings, housing, residential colonies and garbage dump yards.
Chennai used to have 60 water bodies, but they are now just 4.Nearly all of the water bodies were converted to garbage yards and filled.These were sold to contractors with the politician-bureaucrat-contractor nexus becomes fatter at the expense of the environment and the people of Chennai.
Temple tanks that were used to maintain groundwater levels are also being filled.Even the Murudeshwar temple in Tiruvanmyur, which had five tanks, now has one.Rest of the tanks were filled up with dirt and trash and made way for concrete buildings.
The groundwater level has dropped, causing drought-like conditions in the summer as well as water-logging during rainy season and flooding in winter.
Both seasons are affecting Chennaites, which is evidently due to poor planning.
Sudheeshkumar was a retired senior engineer and automobile major who lives in Pammal, Chennai.He said to IANS that “wrong planning and greed by our politicians and bureaucrats have turned Chennai into a place where people suffer from nightmares during rains and severe suffering in summer because they lack water.” Poor planning and poor preparations are the main reasons for this unique situation in Chennai.Floods are now a common occurrence.Although planners must plan for them in advance, they don’t happen and the public is at the mercy of nature.
People are now looking for Chief Minister M.K.Stalin to bring about change.Clearing the freshwater rivers Cooum und Adyar is the first priority of almost all.Many lakes were lost.Temple tanks must be repaired and all encroachments removed.
Madras High Court is always open to hearing the concerns of the citizens and has issued many landmark judgements that have helped restore water flow and prevented environmental degradation.
HR&CE has made positive steps to eliminate encroachments.
It is important that the HR&CE department also steps in to recover the temple tanks and the ponds.This will make the city much more water- and downpour-friendly.
C.Rajeev, Director, Centre for Policy and Development Studies based out of Anna Nagar in Chennai, told IANS: “Unless the government takes a strong stand against encroachers and cracks down on the contractor-bureaucrat-politician nexus, things will not improve in Chennai.This has been a natural cycle and many are affected.It is water-logging and inundation during the rains.In summer, we see women waiting in long lines to receive a pot water.It is due to failures of government and governments who have run the state.
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