Some problems just don’t go away

If Chennai’s 60-lakh electorate were to consider liveability, service delivery and quality of life in the city before they decide whom to vote for, here is the record of AIADMK & DMK on four counts:
Flooding
The slightest shower leaves parts of the city in knee-deep water. AIADMK tendered the Rs3,225-crore Kosasthalaiyar stormwater drain work for North Chennai and the Rs750-crore KfW German bank-funded project for South Chennai just before it was voted out of power in 2021. DMK govt completed the projects and the Rs250-crore Singara Chennai SWD work for the core city. Gaps still remain in spots where the works remain incomplete. Flooding was bad in 2023 but things have been better since. The battle, however, will be of perception, with the DMK promoting its achievements and the opposition highlighting the missing links. For the voter, what matters is whether the roads in front of his or her house floods.

Steps taken:
Rs 3,225 crore Asian Development Bank stormwater drain work for North Chennai, Rs750-crore KfW work for South Chennai, Rs250 crore Singara Chennai work for core city.
Thumbs up:
City faced severe flooding during 2023 Cyclone Michaung, but has been doing relatively better since.
Issues:
Waterbodies have still not been desilted, encroachments eat up key lakes in Velachery.

Pollution
Pollution is increasingly a central issue in political party manifestos. In North Chennai, especially, it is a lived reality. Unchecked stack emissions from Tangedco plants, fly ash deposits on house balconies, unregulated construction dust and unchecked emissions from old vehicles. Industrial clusters operate with repeated violations, whose effects are felt in the form of respiratory problems, skin issues and eye irritation. DMK govt formed the Ennore-Manali Restoration Company, a special purpose vehicle, meant to address these legacy issues. But, the company hasn’t taken form yet. These legacy issues puts both DMK and AIADMK in a spot where they meet residents during campaigns. Naam Tamilar Katchi has promised to ban industries along waterbodies, and to shut them down in key Ennore and Manali areas. Though the top leaders of all parties have not touched on the issue in their campaigns so far, pollution will come up during door-to-door campaigns in the affected areas.

Underaddressed legacy issues:
Stack emission violations, fly-ash emission from Tangedco, effluent release into Kosasthalaiyar river, protests surrounding upcoming WTE plant in Kodungaiyur, unchecked vehicular emissions remain sore points.
Solid waste management
Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dumpyards have been a problem for both Dravidian parties for nearly three decades. AIADMK initiated biomining at Perungudi but the contractor disappeared without starting the work. DMK relaunched bio-mining in 2022 at Perungudi, reclaiming nearly 100 of the total 200 acres. Biomining has just begun at the 333-acre Kodungaiyur dumpyard. However, neither govt has found a green solution to handle the 6,000 tonnes of fresh waste generated daily in the city. DMK’s plans for incinerators ran foul of locals at Perungudi. It is still going ahead in Kodungaiyur, where too there is opposition. DMK has promised to execute a waste-to-energy plant, but the problem of handling garbage remains.


Steps taken:
Rs350 crore biomining for Perungudi dumpyard, Rs641 crore biomining project for Kodungaiyur dumpyard, Rs1,026-crore waste-to-energy incineration plant

Issues:
Only half of the biomining work has been completed in Perungudi, fresh waste is still dumped in the marshland, North Chennai’s waste is still being dumped in Kodungaiyur


River restoration
Chennai’s four waterways — Cooum, Adyar, Kosasthalaiyar and Buckingham Canal — are now more bane than boon. Over the past 40 years, DMK and AIADMK have made tall promises in every election manifesto and state budget. Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust was formed in 2006 by DMK, and AIADMK removed more than 10,000 encroachments from Cooum and Adyar under the project. Yet, thousands of encroachments remain and the waterways are choked with untreated sewage and solid waste. Once the “Thames of South India”, Cooum is a “dead” river now with zero dissolved oxygen in some locations. The promise of a Rs4,500-crore Adyar River Restoration Project remains on paper. As constituencies such as Saidapet, encroachers are large vote banks. Not even half of the demarcation of Buckingham Canal has been completed since a court order in 2022. Misgovernance gives NTK and TVK ammo to amp up their change-maker narrative.

Steps taken:
Basic clearing and widening of estuary, Rs4,500-crore Adyar river restoration project; integrated Cooum river Eco restoration project worth Rs 604.7 crore, Buckingham Canal restoration worth Rs1,500 crore

Issues:
Projects stalled, encroachments remain, sewage not plugged, political interference.
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