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Trichy woes brim over on neglected stormwater drains

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Come rain and the city sees its roads inundated by stagnant water. Trichy received an average rainfall of 5.80 cm till Tuesday morning and the situation on the roads was no different this time either — flooded by stagnant rainwater. Residents blame the condition on the total neglect of the stormwater drain system running parallel to the arterial roads by the Urban Local Body (ULB).


Encroachments along the stormwater drains and frequent clogging of drainage canals thanks to the dumping of solid waste by residents were cited as reasons for the poor ability of Trichy roads to drain rainwater. The city has been receiving “above normal” rain for the past three days, recording an average 3.98 cm to 6.64 cm till Tuesday morning. While the cantonment neighbourhood remained free of stagnation due to a better waste water management system, residential localities including Vayalur road, Karur bypass road, Thennur and Thanjavur main road were seen carrying a stream each of surplus water flowing towards low-lying area.
Though all these localities are equipped with stormwater drain meant to carry only the surplus rainwater to Cauvery river and Uyyakondan canal, it was clogged with waste and encroachments. “Even when there is no rain, the stormwater drain brims with water let out by houses and commercial establishments. The low-lying areas should be marked and preventive measures taken by the civic body to prevent stagnation of rain water,” said, S Pushpavanam, secretary, Consumer Protection Council, Tamil Nadu.
The immediate impact of water accumulation because of overnight rain was visible on Karur bypass road, particularly the junction where Salai road and Shasthri road merged, choc-a-block with traffic. Similarly, though Thanjavur main road has Rettaivaikkal to drain surplus rainwater, the clogged drain is incapable of bearing the surplus water keeping the stretch virtually deluged after a heavy downpour.
“Periodical desilting should have been carried out to keep stormwater drains cleared of solid waste and encroachments. With the city being selected under the smart city mission, storm water management should be streamlined by the civic body,” M Sekaran, president of consumer service organisations said. Residents said that the civic body was too obsessed with solid waste management through source segregation that it was least bothered about the waste water management system which would prove to be disastrous. Corporation sources said that at least a dozen drainage canals were desilted before monsoon last year and that tender would be floated soon to desilt the major stormwater carriers in the city.

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