‘Remove silt from lakes in southern suburbs of Chennai’

The North East Monsoon has set in and the spotlight is once again on how ready waterbodies in the southern suburbs are to receive rainwater.

In previous years, Mudichur Eri, Urapakkam Eri, Perungalathur Eri, and Peerkankaranai Eri had breached their banks, causing massive flooding. The worst event had to do with the Adyar river tributary along the Outer Ring Road, in 2015, forcing people to take refuge elsewhere.

K. Baskar, a resident of Madipakkam, wrote to The Hindu Downtown, with pictures of the lake at Balaiah Garden in Madipakkam getting desilted by Greater Chennai Corporation.

While expressing happiness at the work being taken up, he pointed out that the exercise should be completed thoroughly. “There are shrubs and water hyacinth in the lake apart from sand piles. Th GCC has to complete the job if full benefit of the desilting exercise has to be reaped,” says Baskar.

Likewise, Zone 1 (Pammal) of the Tambaram City Municipal Corporation is desilting the ‘Nattukalvai’, a water channel carrying excess water from Thiruneermalai Periya Eri to a tributary of the Adyar River, along the Chennai Maduravoyal Bypass Road.

Work is under way to desilt the canal along the Temple Town area. We have asked the Zonal engineers to continue the work from Saraswathipuram Extension Fourth Street using an earthmover, but trash must be removed to let rainwater flow freely into the tributary, says B. Saravanan, treasurer of the Federation of Residents Welfare Associations. Thiruneermalai.