CHENNAI: Amid the ongoing northeast monsoon, the complaints of sewage overflows is surging with many areas facing the issue due to lack of maintenance in the sewer pipeline. Residents of TVS Nagar East in Korattur urged the civic body to provide a permanent solution to ensure there is no sewage overflow from the manhole during the rainy season, which causes inconvenience.

KR Kannan, a resident of TVS Nagar said, “The sewage system is blocked with garbage and plastic waste coming from the residential buildings. The Metro Water Board failed to desilt the pipeline before the onset of northeast monsoon, which led to the overflowing of sewage from the manholes in the area. In addition, the rainwater does not flow into the stormwater drains, but stagnates on the road, and the sewage gets mixed with water in the area.”

The pumping station located in the area does not have sufficient capacity to prevent sewage overflowing. The urbanisation has rapidly increased the houses from 500 to 5,000 in the area in last 10 years. Yet the local body did not increase the capacity of the pumping station.

“Recently, the senior officials of the Metro Water Board inspected the area, but they failed to act against the issue. We urge the local body to increase the road level and clean the clogs from the sewage pipeline system every month. It has become a common issue for over five years and no permanent solution is provided to resolve the issue,” said another resident.

Residents stated that they are tired of raising complaints to the metro water board and Chennai Corporation as they only provide temporary solution by pumping out the stagnated drainage water.

When contacted, ward 83 councillor MTR Nagaraj stated that the rainwater, stagnated in the vacant land in the area, overflows into the road, which flows into the manhole. It led to overflowing of sewage from the manholes.

“We have planned to connect pipelines from the empty plots to the stormwater drains to ensure the rainwater does not stagnate and floods the roads, “he added.