The Curse of Vellachery

This probably looks like a picture of badly maintained roads on a rainy day. On the contrary, this is the picture of my locality in Velachery taken around 5.30 pm today evening. With the weather forecasting long sunny days ahead, what’s with the roads here flooded fresh with water?

This is not the water from up above, this is the water from down below. Nothing has changed since December’s flood in Velachery. When all other places where filled with rainwater, my area was submerged with sewage water that started bubbling out as soon as the first batch of rains hit the ground. This is the story ever since. Our sewages start overflowing whenever it feels under the weather. The sewage system is blocked for over ten days now. Complaint has been lodged, but no action so far from the officials concerned. Bathrooms are flooded, and to prevent further damage nearby apartments pump out the excess water on a daily basis onto the roads. That is the scene you see in the picture above. The dirty water pumped out, floods the roads without any proper channel for release. People walk on these roads on a daily basis, and our doctors are super busy with the increasing number of skin infections and fever cases.

This picture is the backyard of my house. The backyard gets flooded every time one takes a bath. This is the case every single household in my locality. Velachery has become a big name for so many different things. We have big shopping complexes and new landmarks coming up every day. But this the true face of this low lying area in all its gory detail. There is a swearing in ceremony happening with all the grandeur tomorrow for the government that ruled last week to go to work this week. Instead of spending big bucks on unnecessary luxuries, it would be loads better if they could mend basic amenities that people require. This is Velachery, one of the busiest and well-developed hubs of Chennai. I cannot imagine the plight of other developing areas. This is not an attention-seeking ramble of a single person, but the silent cry of a community. We just hope it is heard.