Anti-encroachment drive along Cooum river set to resume next week
Ahead of the onset of the Northeast monsoon, the Water Resources Department (WRD) is preparing to remove encroachments along the Cooum river near Thiruverkadu.
Following a Madras High Court directive, the Department had served notices to remove 160 encroachments along the river at Perumal Koil Street, Thiruverkadu. Officials said an anti-encroachment exercise is being carried out in the upper reaches of the waterway as part of the project to restore the river.
The drive incurred a delay following stiff opposition from the residents. There are plans to resume the exercise next week. The residents, some of whom have agreed for a biometric identification process, will be resettled in the Manali New Town.
Officials noted that 19,800 sq.m. of the riverbed has been encroached upon near Perumal Koil Street. Nearly 266 encroachments, which form the remaining structures that need to be cleared, are located at Shanmuga Nagar, Thiruverkadu – on the right bank of the river.
The Department had identified 2,782 encroaching structures along the upper reaches of the Cooum. Most of the structures along the stretch falling under Tiruvallur districts have been cleared. An additional 35,800 sq.m. would be retrieved in Thiruverkadu once the entire exercise is completed, said officials.
The residents of Nolambur and Thiruverkadu said the river should also be free of sewage and garbage.
Officials said the stretch of the Cooum river near Maduravoyal and Velappanchavadi are being cleaned, particularly near the causeways, ahead of the monsoon.
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