Chennai’s flood mitigation and monsoon-preparedness works have been given an October 15 deadline after the State government found that several drainage, waterway and water-body projects remained incomplete across the city and its suburban districts.
The deadline was set at a review meeting on Monday chaired by B. Chandra Mohan, Additional Chief Secretary and Commissioner of Revenue Administration. Commissioners of the Chennai, Avadi and Tambaram Municipal Corporations, district revenue officials, Water Resources Department officials and Highways Department officials attended the meeting, according to The Hindu.
The review covered Chennai, Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts. Officials were instructed to complete the flood-mitigation works before the Northeast Monsoon. An official said the storm-water drain network being constructed under the Asian Development Bank scheme for the Kosasthalaiyar basin was almost complete, with 0.69 km remaining. The balance work is expected to be completed within two weeks.
Priority works in the Kovalam basin, covering Sholinganallur, Perungudi and Alandur, are also scheduled to be completed before the monsoon begins. The progress of these works is significant for neighbourhoods in southern Chennai where drainage capacity and waterlogging have been recurring concerns, although the review did not provide a separate completion percentage for the basin works.
Within the Greater Chennai Corporation limits, desilting is being carried out along 1,683 km of storm-water drains. Work has been completed on 1,328 km, while the remaining stretch is expected to be completed within a week. Desilting of 1.10 lakh silt catch pits was completed during the first phase. In the second phase, work on 77,600 pits has been completed so far.
Drain-connectivity works have also been taken up at 105 missing locations covering 922 metres. Officials said 44 locations had been completed and work was continuing at the remaining 61 locations, with completion planned before the monsoon. These connections are intended to address breaks in the storm-water drainage network that can prevent runoff from reaching larger channels.
However, several water-management works remain unfinished. Desilting and the removal of water hyacinth are incomplete in many of the 44 waterways maintained by the Greater Chennai Corporation, 13 canals maintained by the Water Resources Department, and the Cooum, Adyar and Buckingham Canal. Residents have also reported delays in desilting seven drains passing through railway minor bridges. Desilting has been completed in 21 railway minor-bridge drains, according to an official cited in the report.
Improvement works have been taken up across 8,439 metres of the Captain Cotton Canal, Secretariat Colony Canal, Otteri Nullah and Virugambakkam Canal. Of this, work on 6,977 metres has been completed. Improvement work has also started in 83 water bodies, with 51 completed and 32 still pending.
The city’s emergency drainage arrangements include motor pumps installed in 19 Greater Chennai Corporation subways and five Highways Department subways. In addition to 109 water-collection tanks equipped with motor pumps, three more tanks are under construction and are expected to be completed by the end of September.
According to an official, the Chief Minister has directed that an estimated Rs. 100 crore be allocated for Northeast Monsoon preparedness in Greater Chennai Corporation areas. Civic agencies are also examining whether the Moovarasampattu quarry can be used for water storage. An online application has been developed to register volunteers for relief operations, and registration is under way.
The October 15 deadline now places the remaining desilting, connectivity, canal, water-body and pumping works on a compressed schedule ahead of the monsoon. The next formal milestone identified by the authorities is completion of the pending works before the onset of the Northeast Monsoon.
