Pattali Makkal Katchi’s Chief Ministerial candidate Anbumani Ramadoss has accused the DMK and ADMK parties for not developing the State in a way that it could face heavy rains.

In a release, Anbumani has stated that the parties have miserably failed to prevent floods even in a well-developed city like Chennai.

“Even a single day of rain would expose the poor drainage facility in the city. This is because of the lack of thinking forward while carrying out developmental activities,” he said.

He said that most of the water bodies in the city have been encroached upon. “There were nearly 3,000 water bodies in Chennai in 1970, but now there are only 40 and the rest have been covered by concrete buildings, thereby blocking the flow of water causing floods,” he alleged.

The 16 water canals, including the Buckingham Canal, were not desilted properly to allow smooth water flow. “The two rivers have turned into sewage because of poor maintenance,” he said.

Lamenting over the wastage of rain water, Anbumani had alleged that around 25 TMC of water had mixed in the sea, which was more than the total capacity of the four lakes in the city.

“Further around 1,000 cusecs of water from the Chembarambakkam Lake and 3,000 cusecs from Poondi Lake were being let out. If the parties that ruled had constructed 10 lakes, then the waters could have been stored for future use during water scarcity, which is common in Chennai,” said Anbumani.

He asked the State Government to immediately carry out necessary relief work to help people in crisis.