Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Bus services hit by water-logging

Photo: S.S. Kumar

DEEP IN TROUBLE: MTC bus stuck in the Aranganathan subway. —

CHENNAI: Services of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation were hit in several parts of the city on Friday due to water-logging.

MTC officials said it became dangerous to ply buses in nearly 20 localities. The situation was so bad that people had to switch over to boats to reach safer locations.

In the city, buses plying via Vadapalani, Koyambedu, Chinmaya Nagar in Virugambakkam, Saligramam, Madipakkam, Perambur, Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, Periyar Nagar, Vyasarpadi, Kannadasan Nagar, West Mambalam, Kundrathur, Kelambakkam, Sholinganallur, Nesapakkam, Uthamar Gandhi Road in Egmore, Otteri Mangalapuram Bridge were suspended. Twelve new MTC buses were damaged due to water entering the engines, officials said.

Praveen Mathew, a commuter stranded in Vadapalani for over an hour, said that he had to walk on the median to reach a popular marriage hall nearby from where he managed to get a call taxi. “There was a fibre boat moored to a lamp post near the bus depot but I could not figure out anyone operating it,” he said.

In areas such as K.K. Nagar, uprooted trees posed challenge to bus drivers, MTC officials said.

The road connecting Medavakkam and Sholinganallur came under sheets of water.

With the Pallikaranai junction flooded, vehicles to Rajiv Gandhi Salai were diverted through Pallavaram - Thoraipakkam Radial Road. An MTC bus was trapped near the construction site of a minor bridge on Velachery Main Road in Pallikaranai.

Operations Manager of MTC V. Babu told The Hindu that they tried their best to take diversions and continue operating the services.

He said that several of the places where services were hit on Friday had a chronic water-logging problem and the situation was the same every year.

He cited Aranganathan subway and Doraisamy subway as instances.

He said that it would take 20 days before normal bus services are restored in the affected areas. A financial assessment of the damage to the MTC assets would be done in a day or two, he added.

The Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus was inundated and local as well as mofussil bus services originating from there were hit.

Hundreds of passengers were stranded at the terminus and those waiting for inter-State bus services at other boarding points in the city remained confused whether the buses would ply or not.

Several people were also forced to abandon their travel plans. The rain also affected commuters between Guindy and Tambaram as buses from the CMBT to the southern districts were diverted through Chennai Bypass.

As there was no information about this, the commuters were stranded in bus stops at different places.

Only when they heard the news did the commuters head to Perungalathur.

Similarly, buses from the southern districts to Koyambedu were diverted via Chennai Bypass.

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