Wed Mar 05 20:00:15 UTC 2025: ## Chennai’s Water Woes Deepen Amidst Encroachment Crisis

**Chennai, March 6, 2025** – A lack of comprehensive data on encroachments along canals and stormwater drains (SWDs) across Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) zones is exacerbating Chennai’s persistent waterlogging problems, according to officials and experts. The absence of uniform, simultaneous surveys across all 15 zones, coupled with irregular desilting, is hindering effective drainage.

Several key zones, including Tiruvottiyur, Tondiarpet, Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, Ambattur, Anna Nagar, Teynampet, Kodambakkam, and Perungudi, lack updated encroachment data. While some zones, like Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, have identified encroachments (118 along Gandhi Canal), others, such as Kodambakkam, haven’t even begun surveys. In Kodambakkam’s West Mambalam, nearly 100 illegal tenements have been built over an SWD.

The issue is further complicated by a lack of an underground drainage system, resulting in sewage flowing directly into the SWDs. Encroachments also obstruct crucial widening efforts, delaying flood mitigation projects. The Water Resources Department (WRD) also needs to survey encroachments and illegal sewage outlets on its land.

While the GCC acknowledges the problem and asserts that it is actively clearing encroachments, Zonal officials admit to challenges in evicting residents, citing the need for police support and concerns about the social impact of displacement. The process, they say, is often triggered by resident complaints rather than proactive, systematic surveys.

R. Loganathan of the CPI(M) argues that inadequate desilting, rather than encroachments, is the primary cause of waterlogging. He criticizes the Corporation’s hasty desilting efforts just before monsoon season. Deputy Mayor M. Magesh Kumaar counters this, maintaining that the GCC is addressing the encroachment problem effectively.

The conflicting perspectives highlight the complexity of the issue, with a need for both stricter enforcement of encroachment rules and improved maintenance of the city’s drainage infrastructure. The lack of a coordinated approach across departments, coupled with social considerations surrounding evictions, underscores the challenge of solving Chennai’s persistent flooding problems.

Read More