New constituency wants old problem of flooding solved

CHENNAI: Bindhu Madhavan's palatial bungalow at Anna Indira Nagar in Velachery has a water mark' a foot above the floor. And that brings back to the family the nightmares of monsoon.
Come rains, the five-member family would pack up their belongings and move to a relative's house in the neighbouring Madipakkam. Their return would depend on the call from neighbours about receding water level.
"It has been a practice for more than two decades since I built this house," says Madhavan, a manager with a private firm.His family made two trips December last. When the residential colony receives run off from the neighbouring Dhandeeswaran Nagar, Seethapathi Nagar and TANSI Nagar, Madhavan ends up spending Rs 4,000 to clean up the contaminated underground sump and floors.
Many residential colonies like TANSI Nagar, Baby Nagar, Seshadripuram and Sarathy Nagar have similar tales to tell. In the absence of a proper drain network, the houses virtually remain under water for days. Interior streets turn into flood water carriers during rains, despite the DMK-led Chennai Corporation making claims of having taken up high-cost drain works.
"Of the identified 12 km, not even two km has got drains in Velachery with funds from the centre," says Federation of Velachery Residents Welfare Associations president S Kumararaja.
Unplanned development, poor traffic management, rampant encroachments, shabby maintenance of water bodies-- welcome to Velachery, a new assembly constituency with old problems. The constituency was newly carved out out Besant Nagar and Valmiki Nagar of Tiruvanmiyur in the east and Taramani in the west.
"Velachery lake is filled with gallons of sewage. Give me a chance and I will turn it into a tourist spot," says AIADMK candidate MK Ashok. He says he is flooeded with complaints of water contamination and clogged sewer mains, when he went campaigning at Vannanthurai near Besant Avenue Road on Tuesday.
Velachery got the Mass Rapid Transit System in 2007, but bus connectivity to MRTS stations remain bad. This despite the Metropolitan Transport Corporation operating 500 services on 108 routes from the Velachery terminus.
BJP candidate Tamizhisai Soundararajan said she would initiate steps to build a flyover near the bus terminus. "It is chaotic all through the day," she echoes the public lament. Residents demand speedy execution of widening of Velachery High Road and the LB Road subway-cum-flyover project.
Slum-dwellers in the constituency are not so unhappy. Residents of Mallipoo Nagar near Malar Hospitals said they were contented with the state's freebies. Those living on the banks of Adyar said they are thankful for the LPG stoves, colour television sets and the government's free health insurance. PMK candidate M Jayaraman hopes such happy voters would send him to the Assembly.