Chennai: The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has been unclogging drains, cleaning pipelines and checking dewatering pumps ahead of the northeast monsoon, which will likely hit the city within two months.
While this is an annual activity, there’s a slight difference this time. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s son, Udhayanidhi Stalin, is directly overseeing GCC’s monsoon preparedness as the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is still dealing with allegations of mismanagement stemming from the deluge that marked last year’s Northeast Monsoon.
The minister of youth welfare and sports development in the Tamil Nadu government has held two meetings on monsoon preparedness at the Ripon Building—the municipal corporation office in Chennai—since 16 August, a GCC official told ThePrint.
In December 2023, Chennai witnessed heavy floods, which resulted in 17 deaths, in the torrential rains triggered by cyclone Michaung. While a six-member central team that inspected the city in the aftermath of the deluge praised the state government for its quick response, Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman had blamed the state for not taking preventive measures before the monsoon.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin held a virtual meeting with district collectors in July this year to take stock of monsoon preparedness in the city. Since 17 August, Stalin has been on an 18-day trip to the United States to attract investments to the state.
A DMK functionary, who did not wish to be named, said that monsoon management would be crucial for the ruling DMK government that hopes to retain power in the assembly elections in 2026.
Having faced criticism for deteriorating law and order in the state after the recent Kallakurichi hooch tragedy and the murder of state BSP chief K. Armstrong, the DMK government is looking to score a point in how it manages the Northeast Monsoon.
“The minister (Udhayanidhi) held his first meeting with GCC officials on 16 August. Then, he heard all MLAs and local representatives about issues faced by different areas in the city,” an assistant executive engineer at GCC, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint.
The official said that at the last meeting on 4 September, the minister sought details on action by individual departments.
Municipal Administration Minister K.N. Nehru, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) minister P.K. Sekarbabu; Chennai Central MP Dayanidhi Maran; South Chennai MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian; North Chennai MP Dr Kalanidhi Veeraswamy; and Chennai mayor Priya Rajan, also attended the meeting.
“The basic idea of the review meetings was to ensure the interdepartmental coordination,” DMK spokesperson Salem Dharanidharan told ThePirnt. He said the minister instructed different departments, including the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and the Sewerage Board, to complete all necessary works such as clearing stormwater drainage system timely.
However, the opposition AIADMK said the municipal corporation has failed to take effective cautionary measures as the works have started only now instead of in advance, between May and July, casting doubts about their timely completion.
Senior AIADMK leader D. Jayakumar said the stormwater drains in the city remain unconnected, which will impede effective flood mitigation.
On Udhayanidhi Stalin overlooking the works, the former minister said, “His father is the CM. So, he has been interfering in all departmental work. All other ministers are dummies.”
What leads to floods in Chennai
Tamil Nadu’s capital city, with its drainage rivers, waterbodies and several low-lying areas, is extremely flood-prone.
Chennai witnessed the most severe floods in its recent history in 2015 when the northeast monsoon killed 422 people, according to data from the National Institute of Disaster Management. The city suffered much devastation in 2016 as well due to cyclone Vardah, which killed at least seven, with similar calamities repeating in 2020 and 2021.
A GCC analysis in the aftermath of the 2015 deluge identified clogging of drains due to solid waste disposal, inadequately-designed capacity of stormwater drains, lack of continuous stormwater drains, and encroachment of river basins and marshland as some of the major reasons.
The GCC official quoted earlier said cleaning is underway in all 33 canals in the city, using machinery, robotic excavators and amphibious vehicles imported from Switzerland and Finland. The GCC has also begun works to desilt the canal to ensure water disposal into rivers or the sea, the official added.
Further, the official said preparedness for the impending monsoon began in early September, and the desilting of 1,130 km of stormwater drainage is on at present, with the works expected to be completed by October. The corporation, said the official, had desilted 762 km of drains by August as part of the preparation works for the southwest monsoon.
“The maintenance department has been assigned individual zones, and other works will be monitored at the GCC.”
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also Read: Actor Vijay joins Dravidian parties in call to scrap NEET, slams ‘one-nation, one education’