A serious situation has developed in Raja Street, Mandaveli due to preliminary work of Chennai Metro – local sewage chambers got blocked today because of the grouting work that contractors have been at in this zone for weeks now.
As a result, in some apartments, the sewage system has either got blocked and clogged the lines as have the local area manholes. In one place, even the groundwater line has been affected, said residents.
Grouting had to be resorted to when the underground tunneling by TBM, south of Tholkappia Poonga towards Mandaveli, caused cracks in one large building and tests showed the soil was not suited to carry on the work. The earth had to be firmed up.
The grout consists of sodium silicate which binds with anything that it comes in contact with it.
So the grout that was supposed to fill the underground air pores and strengthen the ground has entered even the sewage vents of houses of clogged the entire sewage system of the street.
Many manholes are now clogged with the chemical and everything has solidified within, an affected resident said.
Metro seems to have relied on its contractor to address the new problem today but when things began to crawl, residents escalated the issue and Metrowater got into the picture; its jet rod machines were at work, trying to remove the clogs.
Grouting work was suspended.
Residents say that a new sewage line may have to be laid for plots affected badly.
” We aren’t sure if Chennai Metro or its contractors have the experience of grouting in a densely populated area like ours,” said one resident who has been, with others here, monitoring the development.
Not sure why did they even choose a densely populated area instead of going with the line on the RK Mutt road. With the kind of experience and the previous lessons by the Contract L&T, the expectation was to have hassle free work. But, to the contrary, we started encountering serious issues as soon as they started digging in the densely populated area. I think it is not late even now. We should have representation to change the path of the Metro. Or it should start only after having a clear plan and measures to ensure that such incidents do not happen again. As a resident of RA Puram area, I am really flabbergasted by this sudden change of metro passage.