Restoration of Adyar river likely to be over by June

The work could have been completed by March, but the officials were awaiting permission to desilt the stretch from Thiru Vi Ka bridge, resulting in the delay, said official sources. “The desilting work was done at a stretch of 13 km from Pattinampakkam to Tiruneermalai. The bund has been extended from 3 km to 6 km. About 90 per cent of work to construct the flood wall at Jafferkhanpet is completed. So we are expecting the desilting work from Jaffarkhanpet to Manapakkam to be completed in two weeks,” said a senior PWD official.

However, the department is yet to remove 5,000 encroachments as the construction of the tenements at Perumbakkam to relocate the families is yet to be completed. “We have already removed 5,000 encroachments and rehabilitated them at Semmencheri. Now, there are another 5,000 residents from Tambaram. The construction is in process. We have already issued notices to the residents, the encroachments will be soon removed,” said the official. The official added that until now, only Cooum and Kosasthalaiyar rivers had check dams using which was could be redirected to the reservoirs. Now, they are constructing check dams from Manapakkam to Adyar under the restoration project to ensure that water was not wasted.