CHENNAI: For the residents of the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) tenements at Satyamurthi Nagar in Vyasarpadi, the tall overhead water tank abutting their colony is perhaps the tallest structure symbolising official neglect and apathy. The tank has never supplied even a litre of drinking water to the hundreds of nearby houses since its inauguration in the mid-1970s.Of late, the tank has become a potential threat to the nearby dwellers and children who play in the adjacent ground. Years of disuse have made the structure weak and shaky and the residents are afraid to approach it. The plaque put up during its inauguration is missing and hence, the local residents do not know much about the history of the water tank.“In the mid-70s, when the TNSCB developed new dwelling units to rehabilitate people living in slum settlements at Samanthipoo Colony and Mullai Colony in Satyamurthi Nagar, Vyasarpadi locality, the government constructed the huge overhead water tank to supply piped drinking water to the tenements,” Karuppan, a senior resident of the locality recalled the history of the tank to City Express. “When the water tank’s storage capacity was put on a trial run after its completion, officials found seepages from different spots. So, the storage was discontinued in order to rectify the defects.” The tank was not used for decades and it has developed cracks on several spots and the children and youth who used to play in the nearby playground now fear that it may come crashing down anytime.“Children and even the elders who used to spend time at a park located beneath the huge tank, are expressing fear to move anywhere near the structure after seeing cracks on it,” said N Thangaraj, coordinator of the Slum Children Sports Talents and Education Development Society (SCSTEDS), an NGO working with the slum children in Vyasarpadi and surrounding areas.Local residents have appealed to the state government to safely dismantle the neglected structure before it causes injury or worse on the ground.
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