It’s going to be a delayed start this year. Yet, residents may be relieved of flooding and growing mosquito menace, as the Water Resources Department (WRD) will launch its equipment to desilt city waterways next week.
For the past month, residents living close to the waterways have been dreading leaving their doors and windows open as the stagnant water is potential breeding ground of mosquitoes.
According to residents of Mehta Nagar, those living on Singarayan Street and Sarangapani Street, with the Cooum flowing in the backyard, spend sleepless nights because of mosquitoes.
Delay in clearing the silt dumped on the roadside also poses problems, as in Korattur.
However, WRD is confident that nearly 200 km of various waterways can be desilted in a month before the onset of the northeast monsoon. The government is expected to sanction Rs. 3.5 crore in a few days.
While canals, including Otteri Nullah and Virugambakkam-Arumbakkam canal, are already being cleaned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, others like Thanikachalam drain in Madhavaram, the surplus course of Red Hills reservoir, and tanks, including those in Adambakkam, will be desilted from next week.
“We will remove floating garbage and desilt vulnerable stretches of Cooum river along College Road and near Padikuppam Road,” said an official.
Stretches of Adyar river near Jaffarkhanpet and Thiru.Vi.Ka. Bridge will also be cleaned. This year, the department plans to remove sand bars from the mouth of Buckingham Canal, near Muttukadu and Pudupattinam, till December, apart from the Cooum and Adyar rivers.
For Chennai Metrowater, the recent launch of online water quality monitoring system has come as an advantage.
“We will add more chlorine to ensure quality is maintained till the tail-end. Staff members will be deployed round-the-clock at 219 sewage pumping stations to ensure there is no sewage overflow,” said an official.
This year too, TANGEDCO has issued consumer safety guidelines, such as installation of earth leakage circuit breakers on the main switch board to prevent damage to electrical equipment, and pruning of tree branches to avoid contact with overhead electricity cables.
Officials have been instructed to check sub-stations and also the functioning of generator sets and chargers.
(Additional reporting by R. Srikanth)
