Even four days after cyclone Michaung hit Chennai, residents of Pulianthope allege that they have not received any aid from the government. The residents are struggling with heavy waterlogging, garbage piling up, sewage effluence mixing with stagnant rain water, lack of food, drinking water and power and the worst of all–the bodies of the dead which they allege have still not been removed by the authorities.
Angry at the DMK-led state government and the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), residents staged a protest on Thursday, December 7. “We’ve had to collect the rubbish ourselves and force garbage collection vehicles on the roads to stop and load the filth. There are dead dogs, cats, what not, among the rubbish. Children are living here amid this stench. Not even the local councillor [B Sumathi] has come to see us even once,” said one furious resident, adding, “It has been two days since a resident died. There’s no access to ambulances to take him away.”
Another angry resident alleged, “Six people have died in our area. We took them all away in cycle rickshaws. We weren’t even able to bury or cremate them, we had to tie their bodies to a tree and come back.”
Their anger, they say, stems from utter apathy and negligence from the state authorities. B Sumathi, the councillor for Ward 70, according to residents, lives only a few streets away from them and yet failed to carry out her responsibilities. “We don’t want their ‘help’. We want the government to just do the work they are supposed to do. They don’t have to come here and distribute milk packets. Come here and remove the garbage, remove the water. If they don’t remove the water, they cannot restore the power. We’ve not had power supply for five days now. How many cases of dengue have been there in the state? And they still haven’t removed the water.”
Pulianthope is a working-class neighbourhood in North Chennai where state apathy has become routine. Every year when monsoons hit Chennai, Pulianthope suffers. Yet, every year, the state government, regardless of which party is in power, fails to be prepared for the inundation and the complications that follow, the residents say.
Read: North Chennai’s floods and its human cost remain unchanged after every rain
“What is the point of a councillor after people have drowned?” another resident asked, “We work for daily wages. We cannot buy drinking water cans for Rs 60. Or milk for Rs 150. There is no food. The water has not receded. Now there’s a pregnant woman who has gone into labour and she’s stranded.”
Yet another resident added: “Everyone here are daily-wage labourers. After knowing that a cyclone has formed, what precautions did the state government take? On the day of the cyclone, there was flooding up to eight feet. People had moved in with others who lived on the second floor or higher up. Or they were taking refuge in a school nearby. We went to the B1 [North Beach] police station on that day [December 4] asking for a boat so that we could rescue people or take essential items inside. Not one boat came until yesterday [December 6]” He too spoke about the horror of having to transport the dead in cycle rickshaws.
“Five bodies went from just one street. All the councillors in the surrounding areas belong to the DMK. The Egmore MLA I Paranthaman is from the DMK. Nobody has come so far to survey the situation.”
When TNM visited Pulianthope on December 6, other residents had also alleged that at least three bodies had been floating in the flood water for days and that despite alerting the GCC, nobody had taken necessary action. When a similar incident occurred in Madipakkam’s Kuberan Nagar in south Chennai, authorities were quick to take action on the same day after details of the incident was posted on X. Tamil Nadu Minister for Industries who also serves as the DMK’s IT Wing secretary TRB Rajaa even posted on X that the body had been removed.
The protestors left after the police and a representative of councillor Sumathi finally arrived on the scene and assured them that action would be taken soon. The representative was heard saying, “I know how waterlogged the streets are, even my house was flooded and I have not had power supply for four days. I understand your situation. I will come to your area and fix it and I will try to restore power within 1 hour.”
Also Read: Bodies found inside homes and floating in flooded streets in Chennai
Watch: Chennai Floods: Ignored by Corporation, North Chennai Suffers Again - Ground report