Weed clearing at Kottai Vaical begins

Tiruchi Corporation on Wednesday commenced work on clearing the Kottai Vaical, a major drain in the city that serves as an important flood carrier during the monsoon, near Chinthamani. The corporation has taken up the annual exercise to remove silt in the drainages in the city ahead of the monsoon, with an initial allotment of Rs.10 lakh.

While work has begun on removing the silt on other major drains such as the Kathirkai Vaical on the Vayalur Road, the work on Kottai Vaical began on Wednesday and is expected to go on for a week to 10 days.

The work began on a modest scale with a handful of workers being deployed to remove the lush weed growth at the tail end of the drainage canal near Chinthamani.

But a corporation press release, issued after an inspection by Mayor A.Jaya and other corporation officials during the day, claimed that 25 workers have been deployed to clear the weed growth.

The deployment of labourers for the work has raised eyebrows among locals, who pointed out that the given the enormity of the task the work should be carried out only by machines.

Corporation officials when contacted, however, said that manual workers would be deployed only in the initial stage to clear the weed growth and drain the stagnant water.

Earthmovers cannot be used at this stage with stagnant sewage running eight feet in depth, they said and added that machines would be used from Thursday once the water was drained.

Though the corporation has constructed retaining walls along the canal, it is frequently clogged owing to dumping of garbage by residents and commercial establishments.

The Kottai Vaical serves as the main storm water drain for several residential colonies in Thillai Nagar, Woraiyur, Thennur, Anna Nagar and Madurai Road.

Meanwhile, Ms.Jaya also inspected the progress of works on clearance of silt on the Samba Vaical in Srirangam, the Kathirikai Vaical in K.Abishekapuram zone and the Rettai Vaical in Ariyamangalam zone.