The vehicular subway under construction near the Velachery Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) station could well be termed an ill-conceived project of the Southern Railway. The partly-constructed subway resembles a swimming pool with water stagnating there “round the year.”
The Southern Railway had, more than eight years ago, planned to construct a mini-vehicular subway to connect the northern and southern sides of the railway station.
The subway was planned for “internal” access of the railway authorities to provide logistical support to the railway maintenance shed located near the station.
Though work on the subway started in 2008, the progress has been bogged down after water started seeping into the subway. Every time the railway authorities drain out water from the subway using heavy duty pumps, water flows back.
M. Arunkumar, a resident of west Velachery, said water stagnated in the subway even during summer. He attributed this to clayey soil and poor planning in constructing a subway inside the perimeter of the Pallikaranai marshland.
Resident welfare activists said that the subway, being on the flood plain, could be converted into a water channel and linked to the Pallikaranai marshland for draining out rainwater from residential areas, including Annai Indira Nagar, Bethel Avenue, Anna Nagar, Balamurugan Nagar and Bhuvaneswari Nagar.
S. Kumararaja, a resident of Annai Indira Nagar, said the MRTS railway track acted as a natural barrier and prevented rainwater from flowing into the marshland. This caused flooding in several residential areas.
A railway official said that they had installed heavy duty pumps to bale out water from the subway and were waiting for the rainy season to end to re-start the subway work.
When the subway work started in 2008, the project cost was worked out to ₹ 2.6 crore wherein the State government provided a share of ₹1.72 crore.
