Chennai:Though Chennai got a respite from incessant rain on Friday, life continues to be tough and difficult for the residents of the city. The city is facing severe shortage of drinking water, milk and other essential commodities like vegetables.
Power supply is yet to be restored in most parts of the metropolis. Telecommunication services continued to be crippled for the fifth day in succession.
The worst is over for Chennai, according to SR Ramanan, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, IMD. “We can expect one or two spells of rain in Chennai for the next two days. But other coastal areas like Cuddalore and Puducherry stand to get moderate to heavy rainfall,” Ramanan told The Pioneer on Friday evening.
Chennai started limping back to normalcy since Friday, which was sunny and hot. Floodwaters have started receding from the main roads and suburban roads in the city. Still most of the roads like the Hundred Feet Road, Arcot Road and Poonamallee High roads looked more like canals than thoroughfares.
Despite improvement in situation, it will take weeks for the Chennai Corporation to remove the muck left by the floodwaters and to restore the heavily battered and bruised roads, Daily Pioneer reported.
People in city suburbs have to be without newspapers for the last five days as newspaper boys did not turn up for collecting the dailies as most of them are from poor families.
Train services from Chennai Central and Egmor stations remained suspended due to flooding of tracks. The suburban trains remained suspended for most of the time with occasional trains taking long hours to negotiate the Chennai Central to Tambaram stretch.
The Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Coast Guard and the National Disaster Response Force, the main agencies connected with the rescue and relief operations, continued their missions which brought relief to thousands who got stranded in the floods. But water supply agencies and auto/taxi services made a kill by charging exorbitant fares and charges from the hapless residents.
Many non-Government agencies too have joined the central forces in making essential commodities available to the flood victims. Raghuraman, an entrepreneur from Sri Perumbudur, and his friends Athullah and Selvamani travelled to Tambaram for distributing biscuits, bottled water and food packets to a crowd of nearly 1,000 people who were left out of the relief supply by Government agencies. “It was a great feeling. All these people are from the lower strata of society. They lost their belongings in flood water-ravaged Tamabaram,” said Raghuraman.
Residents in flood-affected areas were heard complaining about shortage of drinking water and milk. Water bottles are being sold at a premium in Chennai. The only saving grace which stands out in the calamity, according to Raghuraman, is the exemplary and inspiring work being done by the units of Indian Army, Navy, IAF and the NDRF. “They are working non-stop without any rest,” he said.
While DMK chief M Karunanidhi thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for all the services rendered by the central forces and the financial package offered by the PM, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is believed to have told the PM that the Rs 944 crore released by the Centre included arrears due to the State from the Centre and hence more money has to be released. The Prime Minister who undertook an aerial survey of the flood-affected places in Tamil Nadu on Thursday had announced an additional financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crore to the State.