CHENNAI: To enable the city and its suburbs to better tackle flood mitigation efforts in the future, a workshop and field inspection were conducted by Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena on Sunday. The workshop titled ‘Learning from twin disasters of December 2023 and the way forward’ discussed experiences about the floods in December last and strategies to prevent them.
Following the workshop, the chief secretary along with other senior government officials took stock of various flood mitigation infrastructure works across Chennai and the suburbs. He inspected the works undertaken by the city corporation, and the water resources, fisheries and the highways departments. He then directed the officials to expedite the land acquisition process and complete all works before the next monsoon.
In a bid to reduce flooding near Porur Lake, the water resources department has proposed the construction of 14 canals from the Porur Lake to divert the flood water directly to the Adyar River. The government has sanctioned `100 crore initially and the construction work in four canals has already begun.
The official delegation also inspected the construction of shutters and new cut-cover drains. Infrastructure work undertaken by the highways department and Chennai corporation, including the stormwater drain work and the ongoing biomining at Perungudi dump yard, were also inspected on the day.
“Major parts of the SWD works in Chennai are already completed. Flooding can be completely averted once all the works are completed. Construction of some important infrastructure works that got paused due to Cyclone Michaung has been resumed,” Shiv Das Meena told the press.
Chennai corporation commissioner J Radhakrishnan, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department principal secretary T Karthikeyan and senior government officials from various departments were present during the inspection.