Since 2022, the residents of 100-ft Road in Ashok Nagar have been paying their taxes to Chennai Metro Water and Sewage Board (CMWSSB) but the water they get on taps is not fit for use as it is contaminated with sewage water. Officials told TNM that sewage water got mixed with regular water since the main water supply line was damaged after the Highways Department in Tamil Nadu carried out road repair works in the area. The residents of an apartment here also had to pay huge amounts of money to private contractors to clean their underground sumps multiple times as they were unaware of the damage to the pipeline, which was the root cause of contamination .
Murali, a resident of the first avenue of the 100-ft Road, told TNM that the people in his apartment are forced to use borewell water despite having paid water tax to the city’s metro water board. “On top of that, four months ago the metro water officials dug at our gate and left it open. We were forced to live with the stench. The engineer who was in charge had told us that to continue the work we had to personally take permission from the state highway and traffic authorities,” he said.
TNM learnt from the zone’s Executive Engineer Kulirndharajan that an assistant engineer, who has since been transferred, had failed to initiate swift action. He further explained, “When highway work was going on three years ago, the pipe carrying fresh water into their apartment’s pipeline was damaged. The residents seem to have been using borewell water until 2022, which is why they didn’t realise it earlier.”
However, since 2022, unaware of the damage caused to the pipeline by the state Highway Department, the residents spent money multiple times to have their sumps cleaned. Murali said the residents had thought that the poor quality of water was due to some yellow sediments and had the sumps cleaned. “After that we paid a fee to the metro water department to start the digging and rectify the issue We have also been paying water tax for years. We have spent a lot of money for no fault of ours,” he said.
Bang on 100 ft road. Ashok nagar 1 avenue. Been living with sewage mixed water for 6 mths now. Repeated complaints to @CHN_Metro_Water no use. They ask u to close the complaint & they wl set it right. Nthg happens. Repeated push & finally they declare ‘yes. Sewage is mixing’. 1/4 pic.twitter.com/KpNUtIbqOc
— Subhasree Thanikacha (@itissubhasree) April 25, 2023
After Murali’s neighbour, Subhasree Thanikacha, took to Twitter to highlight the issue, the metro water authorities laid new pipes. Kulirndharajan told TNM that they have laid new pipes near the gate and have closed the sewage. However, the zonal office hasn’t yet received official permission from the state’s Highway Department to dig the 100-feet Road and connect the newly laid pipes to the main pipe underneath. “Since it's a highway where there is heavy traffic movement, we can only work during the night with permission,” Kulindharajan added.
The owners of properties in and around the 100-ft Road have raised similar complaints.
The owners of residential properties from third avenue, said the sewage pipes outside their property are leaking and that the sewage water is overflowing. Anu Ganesan, owner of one such property, said that she had complained to the concerned authorities multiple times through Namma Chennai mobile application. She told TNM, “Everytime we complain they would come and suck the overflowing sewage water and leave. But it overflows again in a few hours.”
Referring to the issue faced by first avenue residents, she said: “I used Subhasree’s thread to voice this out because when commoners like me complain no substantial action is taken. When someone who has followers and is a public figure, the problem really gets addressed. The stench outside my property is very bad and it comes with mosquito menace.”