After cave-in, Sivaswamy Salai remains unlivable

CHENNAI: The city is back on its feet after the heaviest rainfall of the century brought it to its knees three weeks ago, but life around PS Sivaswamy Salai in Mylapore is still crawling.
The usually busy thoroughfare looks like a bombarded war zone: There are cracks and craters on the road, at least at three places; an earthmover is busy tearing through the bitumen, and pumps are draining water from below the ground into a storm water drain.
A leak in a sewage pipeline after the first spell of rain in the last week of November led to the road caving in. With virtually no repair yet, the neighbourhood is suffering from traffic snarls, interruption in water supply and sewage overflow. “This part of the road has been a problem for many years, and this time the damage has been big. Earlier officials used to just fill the holes with debris and allow heavy vehicles like buses and trucks to pass. But this time, it couldn't be covered,“ said M Chandrasekar, a Mylapore resident for more than 25 years. One of the big patches is outside a The agency pumping station. Metrowater is relaying a sewage pipeline in the area for which the road has to be dug up again. “It will take at least three more months for the work to get over,“ said a source in Metrowater. That, for motorists and residents, means prolonged problems.
But what exactly happened? Metrowater officials said the ground water level in the area, which used to be 40ft below the surface, rose to 6ft after the record rain. The sewage pipeline, which was at a depth of 20ft, was submerged in groundwater and developed cracks. “Because of this we need to relay the pipeline,“ said an official.
The rainfall would have ideally meant enriched groundwater source, but to ay the pipeline, the authorities are pumping out ground water from aquifers into storm water drains. “The water level in our borewells has gone down from 8ft to 20ft,“ said M Baskar, a resident of Sivaswamy Salai.
Ever since Luz Junction was made a one-way , MTC buses towards the Royapettah flyover pass through Sivaswamy Salai. The ongoing civic work has forced buses to take a long detour till TTK Road junction, pushing the nearest bus stop about 500m farther. it is not just the residents who are inconvenienced.Businesses -restaurants, provision stores and mechanic shops -on the on the road which depended on the daily traffic have been affected due to the closure. While the authorities promise to set things right in three months, residents are not convinced their life would get better even after such a long period.