Nearly 50-year-old temples demolished to restore Mambalam canal's water flow

CHENNAI: Nearly five decades after two temples were built on the water flow path of Mambalam canal, affecting the free flow of storm water during rains, especially the monsoon season, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) demolished the illegal structures on Friday.

For the past 48 years, the two temples - Renuka Parameswari Amman temple and Vinayagar temple – remained on the canal, constricting the waterbody. The canal passes through Thyagaraya Road and VK Housing Colony in Teynampet zone (zone 9).

During almost every monsoon season, the waterbody would flood, affecting the surrounding areas. The temples had been occupying the water flow path of the canal all these years, which resulted in water overflowing into the nearby areas.

This inundated residential neighbourhood, including VK Housing Colony, Giriyappa Street, Nakkeeran Colony, MK Radhakrishnan Nagar, SS Puram, and Bhadrakari, among 20 other localities whenever there was heavy rainfall, said a press note from the civic body.

As part of efforts to mitigate this issue, the Chennai Corporation along with police officials took steps to carry out the eviction on Friday. Officials said the temple authorities cooperated, and themselves removed the Amman and Vinayagar idols from the temples. In addition to the two temples, Corporation officials and workers removed other illegal buildings and encroachments.

After the eviction, the canal was cleaned and banks were reinforced, said the corporation, adding that a compound wall would soon be constructed. The civic body would also implement additional measures, including the construction of a fence to prevent the dumping of waste and garbage.

This would ensure that the flow of water is not affected, thereby avoiding floods during the monsoon.

Also, the monitoring team and zonal level officials would inspect the locality on a regular basis to ensure there is no encroachment in the future, it said.