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The city’s waterways, which are clogged with weeds and waste, will soon be cleaned up, with the Water Resources Department (WRD) planning to initiate the project in a week to arrest flooding during the northeast monsoon.

The WRD is awaiting a government order to sanction funds of Rs. 4.43 crore. Officials said that over 70 km of various city waterways would be cleaned up under the project. “We expect to obtain the government order in a week. We have split the work on the stretches into 71 packages to simultaneously clean up the entire length before the onset of the monsoon by October-end,” said an official.

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The department has begun de-weeding and desilting three waterways – Otteri Nullah, North Buckingham canal and Virugambakkam canal – running to a length of nearly 35 km under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

Besides the stretch of Central Buckingham canal between Chepauk and Adyar, the surplus course of Ambattur and Korattur lakes would also be desilted and de-weeded. Only five to six km of the Cooum River would be cleaned up. “We have identified certain stretches of the river near Mehta Nagar, Koyambedu, Padikuppam and Naduvankarai where silt gets deposited regularly,” said an official.

Similarly, the department has identified nine points on the Adyar river to clear accumulated waste. Apart from Velachery surplus channel, eight drains that bring inflow and carry surplus from the Chembarampakkam reservoir such as the Virugambakkam, Manapakkam and Porur surplus courses would also be relieved of garbage.

The surplus courses of 12 tanks, including those at Keelkattalai, Adambakkam, Sembakkam and Chitlapakkam, , would be cleaned up.

Other works would include cleaning up of Otiampakkam drain and pappaan channel that drain floodwater from West Tambaram and Perungalathur into the Adyar river near Tiruneermalai. The silt dredged up from the waterways would be carried and dumped at low-level areas in the outskirts of the city.

Credit: The Hindu