The Hindu Business Line : Incessant rains throw Chennai out of gear

WATER SHEET: People fording the knee-deep water on Perambur High Road which looks like a flooded stream after heavy rains pounded Chennai last two days. — M. Vedhan

Chennai , Oct. 27

INCESSANT and heavy rains - about 40 cm in 36 hours up to 5.30 p.m. on Thursday - threw life out of gear in Chennai and its suburbs. A deep depression, which lay 150 km east of Chennai, caused the rainfall, forcing schools, colleges and most business, commercial and industrial establishments to either close for the day or work to truncated schedules.

Most parts of the city were flooded and the State Government said over 50,000 people had been moved to relief centres. Rail and air traffic were also disrupted, while public transport buses operated skeleton services. In parts of the city, power supply was shut down for safety reasons.

A number of manufacturing units in and around the city were closed for the day because of water-logging and low attendance. Units in the industrial areas of Ambattur and Padi, where a number of auto component manufacturers are located, were among those affected. Small-scale units in the industrial estates in Ambattur and Guindy were closed for the day.

Plants closed: Most of the plants in north Chennai were closed today and some worked to reduced capacities.

In Ennore, plants of Ashok Leyland and EID Parry were closed right from the morning. In the nearby industrial suburb of Manali, the oil refiner Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd continued its operations, but polyol manufacturer Manali Petrochemicals Ltd, closed one if its two plants. The Managing Director of the company, Mr G. Ramachandran, told Business Line today that the Plant-II was closed because of water-logging. But plant-I remained functional.

Mr Ramachandran said that the company retained the night shift staff although the morning shift people were motored in.

Food and rest were arranged for all the off-shift staff.

In the Ambattur-Padi area, which is the auto component hub of Chennai, almost all the units were closed. Sources said that water had entered the plant of Sundaram-Clayton Ltd. The adjacent Sundaram Brake Linings factory downed its shutters early afternoon, when the production staff advised the management that the raw material had to be protected. The plant has storm water drains leading off to two mini lakes. Both the lakes overflowed.

The Chairman and Managing Director of Sundaram Brake Linings, Mr K. Mahesh, hoped that the company would be able to resume operations tomorrow. Otherwise, two days of lost production, "about 5 per cent of our capacity," will pose a challenge to make up for, he said.

Production at car companies such as Hyundai Motor India, whose plant is at Irungattukottai along the Chennai-Bangalore national highway, and Ford India, whose plant is at Maraimalai Nagar, on GST Road, was affected as a large number of workers could not report for work.

The companies said that some of their vendors could also not supply the parts, because of which production was hit.

On alert: According to an official statement, hospitals and ambulance services are on a 24-hour alert and the Armed Forces are ready to assist the administration.

Mr T.V. Hariharane, President, Chennai District Small-Scale Industries Association, said that most part of the Guindy industrial estate was knee-deep in water as drainage was poor. Most of the 468 units in the estate were closed.

In Ambattur, the situation was similar with roads damaged and water logged. According to representatives of the manufacturers' association here, more than 1,000 units out of the total of 1,800 in this area were closed and more than half the workers could not report for work.

Air traffic was also hit. Seven international flights scheduled to arrive in Chennai in the early hours of Thursday were diverted to Bangalore, Colombo and Thiruvananthapuram with the incessant rain causing poor visibility.

Mr S. Subramanian, Chennai Airport Director, said that Emirates, Air India, Air Sahara, Oman Air and a Lufthansa cargo freighter were among the flights that were diverted. Domestic flights landed and took off with marginal delays, he said. The State Government said in the statement that the authorities reviewed the flood situation in Tamil Nadu. Ministers have been deputed to oversee relief operations in all the affected districts - Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Tiruchi, Karur, Perambalur, Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur, Vellore, Salem, Namakkal, Erode, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri.

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