“I have no idea about the damage. I cannot even reach my factory because the area is flooded,” says P Ganapathi of Continental Thermal Engineers. His is one of the several hundred units in the Ambattur Industrial Estate submerged in water overflowing from a nearby lake.

V Raju, president of Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association, said the entire North Phase of the industrial area is inundated and over 1,200 manufacturing units hit.

Units remain shut

Most of the 2,400 units in the entire estate are shut due to incessant rains and power cut. Over 80,000 workers will be jobless till the situation returns to normal, he added.

In the North Phase, which bears the brunt of flooding whenever Ambattur Lake overflows, about 1,200 units are flooded and the owners of more than half of those units cannot even reach the site, Raju said.

Ganapathi who is also the Joint Secretary of the Association says this is a chronic problem for the industrial units in the area. Except in the last three-four years when there has been a shortage of rain, the northern section normally shuts down for a couple of weeks due to flooding during the monsoons, Ganapathi said.

The only long-term solution to the problem is to divert the flood waters away from the industrial area. Stormwater drain capacity in the area is grossly inadequate and this has to be upgraded, he added.

Raju said that there had been a study a decade back when a proposal to channel surplus water from the lake to the Maduravoyal Canal was considered. But this did not take off, he said. Association representatives say during emergencies it is only the residential areas that attract the attention of the authorities. Workers come from far flung areas. Such industrial hubs are not a ‘vote bank’ for anybody to worry about.

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