Mogappair West sewage mess is costly to clear

The Times of India: Chennai: Monday, November 19, 2012.

Every time M Vijayakumar goes to relieve himself, he knows he has a heavy price to pay.

Vijayakumar is not the only one who is feeling the pinch. People living on Vellala Street in Mogappair West have for the past 12 years been knocking on the doors of various officials, asking that an underground sewage system be built in the locality. Residents' associations even approached the Madras high court and used RTI appeals to speed up the project.

"The high court has instructed Metrowater to execute the project immediately. But five years have passed without the agency doing anything to implement the order," said Vijayakumar, a resident of SSSP Apartments, in which over 35 families stay. People who live on Karnan Street and Sathalwar Street nearby face the same predicament. Residents are forced to pay hefty sums to private tanker owners to carry away the sewage.

"Private tanker operators are making a killing out of the problem. They keep hiking their fares as and when they please. We have no choice but to cough up the money," said Muthukumar Swamy, a lecturer, who stays in the locality.

Two lorries are engaged every day to remove the sewage from one apartment. Residents of the apartment complex that Swamy stays in pool in more than 40,000 a month to pay tanker operators clearing the waste.

Residents also fear that underground water is likely to become contaminated if the sewage overflows from septic tanks. "If we don't clear it every day, the sewage overflows on the streets and it gets really messy," Swamy said. The problem gets severe during the monsoon, and tanker owners increase their charges. Around 110 families reside in 15 apartment complexes in the locality.

Metrowater officials claimed that they have started work to lay sewage lines in the locality. "These areas were not part of the sewage network earlier. After the high court order, we began work on Karnan and Sathalwar streets. We will begin laying pipes for houses on Vallalar Street soon," a Metrowater official said.