The ‘Ground Zero’ article, “Long live the canal” (August 5), was an excellent account of how the legendary waterway has fallen into disuse. It was enlightening to know that there is now a project to try to revive it. Between 1970 and 2000, my students from Sri Venkateswara University and I undertook research on various aspects of wetland ecology on a stretch of the canal from Pulicat to Govundlapalem. We used to travel by boat, observing mangroves and salt pans besides collecting fiddler crabs for research. A common sight then was fishermen harvesting shrimp with their bare hands.
R. Ramamurthi,
Tirupati
Buckingham Canal stands out as an example of British vision, engineering skills and discipline which could not be emulated by us. It is tragic that we have been unable to save the canal from encroachments of various kinds and gross pollution. The canal has immense potential to promote tourism and trade.
Kshirasagara Balaji Rao,
Hyderabad
Alongside a national project to desilt and widen the Buckingham Canal up to Ennore, the Tamil Nadu government must also focus on remaining stretches of the canal and other rivers in Chennai to manage flood waters. All environmental violations such as the Mass Rapid Transit System on the Buckingham Canal and even the secondary runway at Chennai airport must be re-examined. Development needs do not presuppose a cavalier attitude towards the environment. Turning a blind eye to river encroachments or maintenance of rivers can only have disastrous consequences, as the catastrophic floods of 2015 showed. Sadly, draft zoning regulations have still to see the light of the day. Riverside afforestation is another area of abject neglect.
V. Nagarajan,
Chennai
The article was a wonderful read for many old-timers and brought back nostalgic memories of their childhood when they used to watch boats of different sizes and shapes along the canal. The project to revive the canal will be a green move. Stringent steps must be taken to put an end to open defecation, using the canal as a site to dump trash and even as a receptacle for sewerage.
G.M. Rama Rao,
Visakhapatnam
