The Corporation has shown tremendous improvement in clearing the roads of rainwater following heavy showers.
Its track record seems to have improved, except on Santhome High Road, which still proves quite a handful for the civic body.
Last Thursday, less than an hour of downpour threw traffic out of gear on this busy road, near Foreshore Estate, and Corporation workers had to rush to the area to remove excess water with motor.
Residents of the area and motorists passing through it would tell you water stagnation during the monsoon is still one of the major problems facing Santhome.
Residents of many interior streets, including Muthu Street, are unable to venture out whenever there is a heavy downpour. Their lanes are under sheets of water. The streets leading to the main road are no better.
B. Satish, a resident of Muthu Street, managed to wade through the water outside his house to open his shop on the main road last Thursday.
“My daughter who works with a star hotel at Nungambakkam has taken leave as it is difficult to take the two-wheeler out of the house. My wife who helps me in my business has stayed at home because the street is submerged in water,” says Satish, a resident of the area for the last 12 years. The stretch from Marina Residency to Meenakshi Bhavan on Foreshore Estate is the worst-hit as it is low-lying. Many colonies on the western and eastern sides of Foreshore Estate are affected every time there is a downpour. Corporation officials say no rainwater harvesting structures have been installed on the road at Foreshore Estate, as the width of the stretch does not permit any new design.
MTC bus drivers and conductors have complained about loss of time, as the buses have to wade through the water. “It usually takes 1 hour and 10 minutes to travel from Kannagi Nagar to Broadway, but on October 17, when it rained non-stop, it took us four hours to reach Broadway and much of the delay was due to the slow-moving traffic on Santhome High Road,” says a conductor of bus route T21.
Some blame poor desilting of drains. Residents are also to be blamed. “We don’t get many complaints from the slums as they are quick to remove the blocks from the stormwater drains if there is a minor clog,” said the official.
According to a Corporation official from Zone 9, the monsoon situation on Santhome High Road has considerably improved after the mouth of the Adyar River was de-silted, allowing free flow of water from the drains. In the next few days, a team will be clearing the drains so that there is no water stagnation from the western and eastern side of the main road.
