Chennai Mayor R Priya inspected monsoon preparedness works across parts of the city on Wednesday and directed officials to speed up storm water drain construction, monitor canals continuously and respond promptly to public grievances during periods of widespread rainfall.
Priya began the inspection at Perambur Subway, where she reviewed rainwater removal operations. She then visited Stephenson Road near the Sengai Sivam Bridge to check whether water was flowing without obstruction through the Otteri Nullah Canal. The Mayor also reviewed water flow in the Gandhi Canal in Ward 72.
The inspections covered ongoing storm water drain construction and maintenance work on Powder Mills Road in the Basin Bridge area. Priya instructed officials to expedite the work around Basin Bridge and asked staff to continuously monitor canals and storm water drains across Chennai to ensure that water flow was not blocked.
The Mayor also visited the monitoring activities at Ripon Building and directed officers to take immediate action on grievances received from the public. The inspection comes as rainfall has affected areas across the Greater Chennai Corporation limits and civic authorities continue to review precautionary arrangements for the northeast monsoon in the Thiru Vi Ka Nagar zone.
In south Chennai, Priya inspected rainwater removal work in stagnant areas of AGS Colony along with South Chennai MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian. The report did not specify the volume of water removed or the number of personnel and vehicles deployed at the location.
The civic visits also included the inauguration of a new Ward 181 office building at Kottivakkam. The facility was built at a cost of Rs 97.98 lakh and was opened for public use by Priya and Thangapandian.
At a Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board residential site in Kotturpuram, the Mayor laid the foundation stone for a compound wall estimated to cost Rs 23.10 lakh. The report did not provide a completion timeline for the wall.
They also inspected a newly constructed community hall on CP Ramaswamy Road. The facility was built at a cost of Rs 7.97 crore, including Rs 5.50 crore from the South Chennai MP’s fund and Rs 2.47 crore from the Greater Chennai Corporation’s Capital Fund.
The Mayor’s instructions place the immediate focus on keeping drainage infrastructure operational during rainfall, accelerating incomplete storm water drain works and ensuring that complaints received through the civic monitoring system are acted upon. Further timelines for the Basin Bridge works and the Kotturpuram compound wall were not specified in the report.
