Reacting to reports that flooding of the Adyar River was the result of "improper" management of water release from Chembarambakkam lake, Chief Secretary K Gnanadesikan in a statement denied that officials were waiting for clearance from Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for releasing excess water.
"The floods in Chennai were rarest of rare natural calamity and were not caused by any failure of management of water releases from reservoirs," he said.
Opposition parties had alleged that sudden release of huge quantity of water from the Chembarambakkam reservoir in the wake of heavy rainfall on December 1 was the reason behind the unprecedented inundation of Chennai and its neighbourhood.
DMK Chief M Karunanidhi on December 11 submitted a memorandum to Governor K Rosaiah seeking a judicial inquiry by a sitting High Court judge into "delayed" release of excess water.
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The Chief Secretary said the Chembarambakkam tank situated in Sriperumbudur has a storage capacity of 3,645 (TMC ft) about 33 per cent of storage capacity of city reservoirs, he said, the full tank level is 24 feet and maximum discharging capacity was 33,060 cusecs.
Similarly local controlling officers were monitoring the level of water in tanks and reservoirs in Red Hills, Cholavaram, Poondi.
"Hence, the allegation that they were waiting for instructions from Principal Secretary, Public Works Department and Chief Secretary and the imputation that the officers were awaiting clearance from Chief Minister are malicious and are canards not supported by water release data of the reservoir", he said.
"The Collector of Chennai issued flood warnings which were telecast in TV and FM radio channels. Police and Fire Service personnel along with revenue and Corporation officials went from street to street alerting people about the water release through megaphone," the Chief Secretary said.
Following the warnings, over 30,000 persons were evacuated from Saidapet, Jaffarkhanpet, Kottupuram and Ramapuram localities in the city while 17,300 persons in Kancheepuram district.
"Therefore, the allegation that the State government had not given sufficient alert to people is not true," he said.
"The level of water at the Chembarambakkam Tank was steadily 'stepped up' based on inflows and not all of a sudden", he said, adding the tank was "skillfully" and "judicially" managed in ordered to moderate the flow in Adyar river.
Due to heavy rains, Nandhivaram, Urappakkam, Mannivakkam and Adanur tanks breached on reaching maximum water level, resulting in heavy inflow into Adyar river.
In view of heavy inflow in Adyar river, the high intensity runoff of local rainfall in Chennai City and adjoining areas could not fully drain into Adyar and hence contributed to the inundation of the city, he said.
"The work of keeping the Adyar river mouth open for free flow of flood water into Bay of Bengal was being continuously executed throughout the year using machinery helped in faster discharge of floods, preventing even greater inundation of the city", he said.