Coimbatore Corporation on Tuesday began a drive to remove hyacinth from water bodies.
Corporation Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan along with Executive Engineer A. Lakshman inspected the works at Krishnampathy tank.
According to officials, the lakes that were earlier with the Public Works Department (PWD) and subsequently handed over to the Corporation will be taken up for rejuvenation and creating facilities under the Area Based Development (ABD) of the Smart City Project.
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The water bodies include Narasampathy tank, Krishnampathy tank, Kumarasamy kulam, Selva Chinthamani tank, Ukkadam periyakulam, Valankulam, Singanallur tank.
Oasis Designs, the consultant for rejuvenation of water bodies, has already completed the survey of three water bodies.
After hyacinth is removed, cycling tracks for 30 km connecting Narasampathy with Singanallur would be laid. The tanks would have various forms of recreational facilities, including boating. A bird watch tower would also come up at Singanallur tank.
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The ongoing drive is to ensure that the original size and capacity of these tanks are fully restored and the water holding capacity is increased. Tenders for the same would be floated within 60 days.
Wastes removed
Volunteers of Kovai Kulangal Padhukappu Amaippu in association with the Environmentalist Foundation of India cleaned nearly two tonnes of waste from Kumarasamy lake.
They undertook task as part of their 39-th week of cleaning the water bodies in the district, a release from the organisation here has said.
Over 150 volunteers of these two organisation took part in the cleaning work. Besides cleaning the water body, the volunteers participated in the awareness campaign in the nearby habitations on conservation of water bodies in the district. Volunteers explained the public about the throwing plastic waste thrown in to the water bodies.
Statues, idols, and bouquets wrapped with aluminium foil and plastic cover were removed from the lake.