Chennai: Sewage flooding Velachery road irks motorists

CHENNAI: Sewage overflowing on Velachery’s Gandhi Road for the last seven days has irked motorists, shopkeepers and residents in the area. Sewage has been coming out of a manhole in the centre of the road causing a swamp. Besides generating stench, it is a trip hazard for pedestrians amd motorists.
Civic activist Pughalventhan V, who passes by the stretch daily, said he had been seeing it for more than a week now and the Metrowater is yet to act.“The sewage is flowing back to the road and goes to the stormwater drain on the side. Several bikers have skidded and fallen on the spot,” he said.
Pughalventhan said he had raised the issue with the Metrowater, but officials are yet to address it. “The spot where sewage outflow is happening has more than a dozen provisional stores, residential houses and also tuition centres. Thousands of people overall use the stretch everyday,” he said. He added the same spot was prone to reverse-flow in 2018-19 as well.
GIS expert Dayanand Krishnan said usually reverse flow happens because of a blockage in the drainage line. “Metrowater drainage lines are usually nine metres deep and if not for a huge blockage, reverse flow of water is not possible,” he said.
He added Metrowater must rope in jet-rodding machines to push away the clogging or can use sucker machines to pump out the block. “This is a usual phenomenon due to blocks,” he said.
Meanwhile, Metrowater officials said they had already removed part of the block and were working. “It will be cleared before Saturday night,” a Metrowater engineer from the Velachery area said.