As rain hits Chennai, small units re-live Dec nightmare

With the December floods still fresh in people’s memory, the unseasonal rain that has hit Chennai and parts of Tamil Nadu is sure to put on guard the political parties awaiting a verdict in the just-concluded Assembly elections in the State. Indeed, polling itself happened amidst the heavy showers brought on by a low-pressure system in the Bay.

Political parties, especially the DMK, had made what they called the ‘mis-handling of the rains’ by the AIADMK government a poll issue. In its manifesto, the DMK had even promised to put in place a mechanism to deal with floods.

No doubt prompted by a cautious State Government, Chennai’s civic authorities have deployed nearly 12,000 people for any eventuality, and stationed boats at multiple locations for rescue work.  Four teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed in low-lying areas.

The city administration and the State government should take the summer rain lashing Chennai as a wake up call to prepare for the monsoons, say industry associations.

Last year, the unprecedented North-East Monsoon, not witnessed in a hundred years, took a heavy toll of life and property with nearly 20,000 small and medium scale units badly damaged; even large petrochemical units in North Chennai were inundated and had to stop operations for a few days.

Large multinationals, including automobile manufacturing units, were forced to shut down either because the units were flooded or their staff could not report for duty.

The Tamil Nadu government had then estimated the damage at ₹26,000 crore and sought support from the Centre. Not even 50 per cent of the damaged units are fully back on their feet.

V Raju, President, Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association, said no major flood mitigation work had been done by any of the agencies including the Public Works Department.

The Chennai Stormwater Team constituted after the floods had held preliminary discussions but none of the industrial estate’s issues have been addressed. Hundreds of units were submerged when the North Phase of the industrial estate remained under several feet of water. The current bout of rain is a reminder to the government to start work on flood mitigation, he said.

CK Mohan, Vice President – Chennai Region, Tamil Nadu Small and Tiny Industries Association, said there is little difference in preparedness then and now.

Government officials were attributing the lag in work to the focus shifting to the Assembly elections. But how are these connected? he asked.

Industry representatives say once the Assembly election results are announced on Thursday, the new government that takes over must give high priority to flood mitigation work.

Even the rain of the last two days has shown up the poor condition of roads and the drainage system.

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