The Chennai Corporation has decided to clean the city’s major waterways and canals round the clock to cope with the mosquito menace.
The civic body has invited bids from private agencies to clean waterways such as the Adyar and Cooum rivers, Buckingham Canal and Otteri Nullah. The agencies will keep the waterways clean throughout the year.
“Equipment will be used to clean 76 km of the waterways for eight hours a day. The work will not be carried out on Sundays. The waste materials collected from the waterways will be taken to the Kodungaiyur and Perungudi dumpyards,” said an official of the Corporation.
Last year, the Corporation began removing water hyacinth and floating garbage from the city’s waterways, including those maintained by the Public Works Department (PWD). Mosquito density reduced along the banks after the work was completed. Residents of many such localities have started to report rising mosquito menace because of accumulation of garbage.
As the PWD did not have sufficient funds, the civic body was asked to take up the cleaning operation. Cleaning will have a major impact on residential neighbourhoods along a 19.7 km stretch of Cooum. Neighbourhoods along Adyar river, Buckingham Canal, Captain Cotton Canal, Virugambakkam-Arumbakkam Canal and Otteri Nullah will also have reduced mosquito density after the cleaning drive commences.
