People from flood-prone areas have been shifted to Greater Chennai Corporation relief centres

Chennai Corporation prepares over 2 lakh relief shelters as MPs and MLAs inspect food quality and distribution.

Even as the Greater Chennai Corporation’s rain shelters saw people trickle in on Tuesday — the day the northeast monsoon set in — MPs and MLAs crisscrossed the city visiting the various relief centres and checking the quality of food being served.

The civic body is prepared to host over 2 lakh persons in its 300-odd relief centres, which can each hold anywhere between 30 to 2,000 persons. At four shelters in Mathur, Adyar, Manali, and Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, 91 residents have been provided shelter, said an official. The largest number of residents have been accommodated at relief shelters in Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar. Food packets were distributed at various locations for 43,550 residents in the city. On Tuesday, the Corporation started sensitising residents in flood-prone areas to utilise the services at the relief shelters.

According to estimates, around 2 lakh persons reside in flood-prone areas of the city. Chennai South MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian inspected the food at the cooking centre in ward 188, near Pallikaranai under Perungudi zone. Around 30 persons were temporarily sheltered at a private hall nearby, where the National Disaster Response Force personnel are also stationed. Volunteers said arrangements were being made to distribute food.

Thousand Lights MLA Ezhilan Naganathan said three kitchens had been set up to cover seven wards in his area. These would serve people living in the housing board tenements, where floodwater could rise up to the first-floor level at times. His team of volunteers have moved senior citizens living by themselves or being taken care of by neighbours and also families living along canals to the relief centres.

Similarly, in ward 143 under Valasaravakkam zone, roughly 100 persons were housed so far and food arrangements would be made, as per another volunteer working with the civic body.

Meanwhile, knee-deep inundation has caused relief centres in Thoraipakkam and along Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) to remain closed.

Notably, a few persons were seen taking shelter under the foot overbridge on OMR. The relief centre in Velachery, between Dhandeeswaram and TANSI Nagar, had no inmates but has been distributing basic amenities, according to the Velachery Dhandeeswaram Nagar Welfare Association’s Arun Natrajan. “A doctor was stationed, and medicines are in stock,” he added.