Flood season creeps up on city as PWD grapples with desilting

The Adyar river was cleaned after the 2015 floods, which inundated most of the city, and then once again ahead of 2017 monsoon. But, residents of IPS colony in Manapakkam, said that the waterbody is once again under a carpet of water hyacinth and its banks are lined by huge mounds of debris.

“Water hyacinth was cleared ahead of rain previous year but a thick growth of vegetation has covered the river again. The piles of construction debris along the river, near the bridge, is also a cause for concern. These mounts of filth will prevent the flow of rainwater into the river,” Narayanan TP, a resident of Manapakkam, said.

In the case of Nagalkeni canal, locals said that officials failed to desilt and rejuvenate it and it’s filled with garbage and other industrial waste now. It is the major canal through which excess water from Periya Eri flows into Adyar river at Tiruneermalai. But it is in a state of ignorance. The drains are in a bad state, filled with water hyacinth and waste materials discharged from the nearby leather industry. As a result, water stagnates and creates health issues for the public.

When locals contacted the officials about the desilting work, they were told that only Rs 5 crore had been allocated by the government to desilt all the canals originating from Adyar and Cooum rivers. “As we have limited funds, the canals are being cleaned in a phased manner,” a PWD official said.

“We have been facing this issue for more than a year and the officials are yet to clean the lake. The officials had promised to desilt the canal before monsoon but they have not visited the place yet. The Public dump garbage filed with plastic packets directly into the canal. Besides, sewage also gets mixed with the water,” said Sudharshan KM, a resident of Pallavaram.

In September, volunteers of Tiruneermali Nanbargal Kuzhu coordinated to clean Tiruneermalai lake with the permission of PWD officials, and 90 per cent of the work is completed.

“We removed almost all the prosopis juliflora (seemai karuvelam) trees near the lake within one month. Within two weeks we will complete the work. We had asked PWD officials to desilt the lake before monsoon or at least permit us to do so, but there has been no positive response. When we contacted them recently, we were informed that the desilting work will only start in May 2020,” said Vendhan V, a resident of Tiruneermalai.

Whereas in Chitlapakam, the PWD had started the cut-and-cover construction one year ago, but they have left the work incomplete even as the monsoon has come. “There are 300 families residing in the area and it is one of the first places to get flooded once it rains.

Adding to our woes, the pits dug for cut-and-cover construction has been left open and a motorist fell into it recently. The rainwater stagnation in these pits is acting as a breeding ground for mosquitoes and spreadind a fear of dengue outbreak among the residents of the area,” said Ravichandran M, a resident of Babu street, Chitlapakkam.

Speaking to DT Next, a senior PWD official said, “Desilting of the rivers and canals in the city is in process. The total length of the desilting worl is 2,600 km and so far, 1,700km has been done. Due to a lack of funds, the work has been delayed in a few places. Cut-and-cover constructions are also in progress, even after the rain started.”