The first spell of heavy North-East Monsoon rains in Tamil Nadu in November first week, inundating vast stretches of metropolitan Chennai which experienced a record spell of 21 cm of rainfall on a single day, has turned the spotlight on the implementation of the ‘Smart City’ projects under the earlier AIADMK regime. Under the ‘Smart City’ projects taken up in Chennai by the earlier government, construction of storm water drains (SWD) was said to be a priority area, which if implemented properly should have fixed the perpetual water logging problems in the State capital of Chennai. But obviously it did not as the recent rains showed to the world. Equally embarrassing for the earlier AIADMK Government was when the Madras High Court asked while hearing a petition what flood preventive measures had been taken after the unprecedented November-December 2015 deluge of Chennai over the past five years. As the present Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin went around the severely water-logged areas in the city, including T. Nagar where under the ‘Smart City’ project an arterial road in the commercial district of ‘Pondy Bazar’, now renamed after the veteran Justicite, late W.P.A. Soundarapandiyanar, had been redone, he was shocked to find that SWD networks in several parts of the city were in a mess, leading to water-logging. “In the name of implementing ‘Smart City’ projects, there has allegedly been large misappropriation of funds. An investigation will be launched into the implementation of those projects under the previous AIADMK rule and action will be taken,” Mr. Stalin said after inspecting the flood-affected parts of Chennai and neighbouring districts....