To reduce the threat of floods, many buildings to be demolished in Chennai
Posted on: 20/Nov/2018 9:58:20 AM
Chennai city was ravaged by severe floods in the year 2015 and people of Chennai would not have forgotten that year even now. It must be noted that more than 5300 buildings were demolished in the city of Chennai and in the southern suburbs for flood mitigation in those areas that were affected by the 2015 floods. The latest news is civic agencies in Chennai and the southern suburbs would begin demolishing houses and commercial buildings to lessen flooding in Chennai.
It is worthy to mention that as many as 2125 houses and 284 commercial buildings have been identified for demolition along the banks of Adyar River and Kovalam Basin after the 2015 floods. These houses and commercial buildings are present in places like Alandur, Sholinganallur, Sriperumbudur, Tambaram, Chengalpattu and Pallavaram etc. An official confirmed that more than 858 houses are yet to be demolished.
The official spoke about how 2500 houses have been identified for demolition in the water bodies of Rajakilpakkam and how as many as 500 houses have to be demolished immediately. He later threw light on the fact that these houses that were identified to be destroyed have been developed in the water bodies over the last 20 years. The official later added that atleast 2000 houses have been developed illegally in the water bodies present in Peerkankaranai. It must be noted that these buildings were developed in the last 40 years. The official finally revealed about the 280 buildings that were completely submerged during the floods in 2015.
In the previous flood, a total of 109 locations in Chennai city were submerged and atleast 1285 locations along the highways in Chennai and southern suburbs were also submerged in the floods in the year 2015. There are as many as 924 water bodies in the southern areas of the Chennai city and capacity in atleast 884 water bodies have been reduced by more than 50 percent. Another official spoke about the presence of 374 snake catchers, 132 swimmers and 1100 volunteers to help the people of Chennai during floods. Excess water from Kattuputhur in Tiruvallur district draining into Adyar was responsible for the floods in the places like Iyappanthangal in Chennai. In the previous monsoon season the excess water from the Poonamallee municipality had submerged the residential areas in Mangadu.
An official pointed out that during the previous floods the water from Narayanapuram Lake had not reached Pallikaranai marsh. Public Works department or PWD and Highways department have to develop a canal at an estimated cost of Rs 40 crores but it has been delayed. During floods, water from the lakes present in Nanmangalam, Kilkattalai,Kovilambakkam etc reaches Narayanapuram Lake. Several industries have encroached upon the canal carrying excess water from the lake in southern and northern parts.
