COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) has completed around 30 per cent work of rejuvenating the Sanganur Canal. The civic body has completed 800 m of desilting and retaining wall construction works of the canal so far and as of now, no roads on the shores of the canal will be laid as over 3,000 encroachments are yet to be removed. The development works at the Sanganur stream in the city, which was kick-started at the cost of Rs 49 crore by Chief Minister MK Stalin on his visit to Coimbatore in November 2021, was halted for over 10 months by the CCMC due to various issues. The civic body was awaiting the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board to allot houses for the people encroaching upon the steam’s shores to resume the works.
According to sources, the 11 km-long Sanganur stream, which passes through the centre of the city had been lying dormant for several decades without any water flow in the channel. The Sanganur stream dredging and development project works were planned to be carried out in two phases. In the first phase, which was kick-started by Stalin, the civic body would be rejuvenating the canal for the first 2.2 km, from the Mettupalayam Road to the Sathyamangalam Road, at a cost of Rs 49 crore. In the second phase, the next stretch of 1 km would be revamped at the cost of Rs 30.3 crore. Based on the development works carried out for the 3.3 km stretch of the canal in two phases at the cost of Rs 79.3 crore, the government would plan the next phase of dredging and development, sources said.
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC Commissioner M Prathap said, “The works were stopped earlier as we couldn’t proceed further without removing the encroachments. But we continued it without removing the encroachments for the time being. We are carrying out the desilting and retaining wall construction works on the canal. Once the encroachments are removed, we will build the pathways. Currently, we have completed around 30 per cent of the project, including constructing around 800 m of retaining walls on the canal.”