CHENNAI: Less than two weeks after Express reported encroachments along the Nanmangalam canal near the Keelkattalai signal, the PWD began demolition work on Saturday. Around 60 buildings along the canal have been demolished on Saturday and Sunday.
A commercial building that had reduced the canal size by one-third right before it enters a culvert carrying water under the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam radial road, was also brought down.
Some of the encroachments had been marked for demolition as early as 2015. Residential buildings along the stretch were cleared on Sunday despite claims by the PWD that they were going to train their guns on the commercial establishments first.
“They told us only the portion which they had marked would go but they have demolished the entire house,” said Umapathy, a daily wage worker who lost his home on Monday. “The PWD said they would give us a week’s time and bring down the shops first but they demolished the houses also simultaneously,” he told Express.
However, residents claim the PWD officials said they would coordinate for resettlement on Monday. The canal first came to the attention of PWD as it overflowed following the 2015 floods. The first spell of monsoon recently too made officials realise the importance of bringing down encroachments.
“We provided temporary measures to drain the water which had flooded the encroachments but clearing the entire stretch along the canal is the only long-term solution,” said a senior official of the PWD.
One of the temporary measures taken this year was breaking down a bridge built on the canal to allow water levels to recede faster. A sewage pipe encased in the bridge had given way and spilled raw sewage into the canal for four days before being fixed by the Pallavaram municipality.
Activists welcomed the demolition of encroachments along this stretch and hoped the removal of encroachments would continue along the path of this canal till it reaches Narayanapuram lake in S Kolathur.
“This is a welcome move by the PWD but once it cuts across the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam radial road, there are many residential encroachments that reduce the size of the canal. That also has to be removed,” said David Manohar, a member of Arappor Iyakkam.