Collection wells in city subways to be desilted

Gearing up for the monsoon, the Greater Chennai Corporation has decided to desilt the collection wells in the subways across the city to ensure that water stagnation near them can be reduced during heavy rains.

According to a Corporation official, the collection wells would be desilted before the onset of the monsoon and motor pumps have been installed permanently at the subways would be serviced. “Works will start in Alandur Road subway, Duraisamy subway, Rangarajapuram two-wheeler subway, Madley subway, Ganeshapuram subway, Harrington Road subway and Villivakkam subway. Tenders will be floated to desilt other subways, too. The collection wells in the seven subways will be desilted at a cost of Rs 13 lakh,” the official said.

All the subways in the city have these wells to collect excess rainwater during the rains so as to make sure that the runoff would not affect the free movement of traffic. This water is pumped out from the wells once the rain stops. During the heavy rains during November-December 2021, water stagnation occurred in several subways affecting the traffic movement. Subways such as the Madley subway and Rangarajapuram subway were affected for several days.

The civic body has already commenced desilting storm water drains across the cities. Tenders were floated to desilt 1,000 km of drains at a cost of Rs 39.26 crore. Moreover, drains in Tondiarpet and Thiru Vi Ka Nagar zones are being desilted under Tamil Nadu Urban Employment Scheme.

Stressing on the seriousness which the civic body and government are according to the flood preparation works, Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi had recently warned the city engineers of action if waterlogging occurred even after carrying out desilting and construction of new drains.