CHENNAI: Just a month ahead of the monsoon, the Greater Chennai corporation is desilting 30 major canals and clearing the banks of the two major rivers in the city. According to corporation officials, the civic body had completed desilting 20 of the 30 canals which came under its jurisdiction. Most of the work in Cooum and Adyar River had been completed. “We hope to finish the remaining work on the two rivers and the 10 canals in the next 15 days,” said a senior official in charge of the de-silting process.
Three robotic excavators which were purchased earlier in the year have been deployed to desilt the canals and the lone amphibian robotic excavator is used to clear the vegetation on the banks of the river.
“A total of Rs10.5 crores has been allocated towards this campaign to make Chennai ready for the Northeast monsoon,” a senior official told Express.
The three robotic excavators in the last six months have cleared 74,574 cubic metres of silt, while the amphibian excavator alone has cleared 2,42,046 cubic metres of silt from the larger canals and rivers.
The silt, vegetation and muck are then piled onto the banks and are taken to either Perungudi or Kodungaiyur dumpyard. However, since the process has become completely mechanical this year, lorries are unable to transport the huge quantities of silt cleared from the canals and rivers to the dumpyards.
When Express reporter visited a desilting site near Radhakrishnan Salai on Wednesday, he found bags of silt stacked on the sides of the road. Some locals claimed the bags had been lying there for three days.
With only one lorry designated to transfer the silt cleared from the Trustpuram canal where de-silting work is being undertaken, it is unlikely that the silt will be cleared on a real time basis. “The entire canal from Arcot Road till it empties in Cooum river will be de-silted in three days,” said an official at the site.
“The lorry can do only three trips in a day,” he said. However, to ensure the silt removed doesn’t return to canals, the corporation has made it a point to put the silt in bags. This move was welcomed by residents living next to the canals. “Earlier, the corporation used to dump the silt on the banks which would flow back into the canal once the rain started. At least now they will be able to clear the silt bags even it it takes time,” said Jyothi Lakshmi of Nadukuppam.