Work being carried out in various major and minor waterways in the southern parts of the city is set to be accelerated to ensure immediate relief from inundation during the northeast monsoon.
K. Phanindra Reddy, Commissioner of Revenue Administration (CRA), inspected the work being done in different areas on Wednesday. He instructed the officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD) and various other government agencies to speed up the projects before the next spell of rain.
He inspected various water channels, including Veerangal odai, Madurapakkam odai, Ottiyampakkam surplus course, Thanthikal channel, near Iyyapanthangal, and Pappan channel at Mudichur service road.
Mr. Reddy also reviewed the monsoon preparedness works at various points of Adyar river, including near Kishkinta Road, Thirumudivakkam bridge and the confluence point of the Chembarambakkam surplus channel. Besides desilting the vulnerable portions of water channels, he also instructed officials to be prepared with pumping machinery to remove stagnant floodwater in areas such as Semmenchery, Ottiyambakkam and Perumbakkam.
Officials of the WRD noted that the 6-km long Chembarambakkam surplus course and confluence point with Adyar river is being cleared of vegetation to allow free flow of water.
Desilting was also being carried out in several surplus courses. Mr. Reddy also instructed the officials to create temporary channels to connect waterbodies or rivers wherever there were missing links.
Many of the long-term flood mitigation projects in the southern parts of the city are in various stages of implementation and funds tie-up. However, they will be taken up after the monsoon. So, temporary measures are being executed to handle the northeast monsoon, officials said.
