CHENNAI: Residents of Thiruporur in Chengalpattu have urged the state government to restore the Siruseri canal which drains into the Buckingham canal, before the northeast monsoons.
“Siruseri canal carries surplus water from the Siruseri Mayilan Thangal lake and surrounding areas like Siruseri Nagar and Kazhipattur. This water drains into the South Buckingham canal in Thiruporur,” said J Viswanathan, a resident of Padur.
Lack of retaining walls, garbage dumping, failure to desilt, among others have resulted in the 4.9 km-long canal losing its capacity to carry water and as a result leads to severe flooding in areas like Siruseri and Kazhipattur every monsoon, say residents.
The state government had proposed to restore the canal from Siruseri Nagar to the South Buckingham Canal, covering 1.5 km. Tenders for this work were floated by the Water Resources Department (WRD) in September last year, but work has not yet begun.
“The restoration work aims to increase the flood-carrying capacity from 1,124 to 2,570 cusecs by widening and desilting the canal, apart from clearing debris,” S Veerasamy, another resident said.
He stressed the need for retaining walls at Kazhipattur to protect nearby areas from flooding, and for work to be expedited ahead of the monsoon to prevent flooding this year.
Residents added that the canal’s degradation is due to solid waste being dumped into the drains by locals. To counter this, they suggest bins at key locations, installing signboards to raise awareness, and fencing along the canal.
“The tender was floated for comprehensive restoration and rejuvenation works on the Buckingham Canal at an outlay of `13.76 crore on September 1 last year. WRD planned to execute the work with Chennai River Restoration Trust. We had also appointed contractors in this regard. But, due to lack of funds, we were unable to continue the task,” a senior WRD official told TNIE. The official also accepted that they had no plans to go ahead with the proposal at the moment.