Tamil Nadu government will accord top priority to the revival of the highly polluted Cooum river in the city and would restore it in another 10 years besides focussing on its beautification, Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters here after reviewing the works on the Cooum, Stalin said the restoration of the river was a “dream project” of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
Once a source of clean water, the 72 km long Cooum river, originating in the nearby Tiruvallur dirstrict, later became polluted due to letting in of effluents and waste.
Stalin, who had led a team of officials last month to Singapore to study a river restoration model, said it would be be replicated here to restore Cooum.
He said 10,000 encroachments have been removed and the operations would continue.
The first phase of Cooum restoration, which involves upgradation of lakes among others, would cost around Rs.1200 crore, the government said.
The state had last week established the Chennai River Authority under Stalin for the restoration of Cooum as well as other small rivers in the city.
