App to be developed to curb encroachments of waterbodies

Duraimurugan says the app will be developed at a cost of ₹5.50 crore

In a bid to protect waterbodies from encroachments and monitor water quality in Chennai and its periphery, the Water Resources Department will launch Tamil Nadu Land Use Intelligence System (TNLUIS), a mobile app. The application will detect changes in land use and unauthorised construction.

Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan made this announcement during the demand for grants for his department for 2022-23 in the State Assembly on Wednesday. The application, which would be developed at a cost of ₹5.50 crore, would use GIS approach, artificial intelligence and satellite imaging to spot changes in land use. Geotagging of land and revenue maps would be done for the system.

Sources said similar apps were being used in Gurgaon and Odisha. Citizens too would be able to report encroachments through the application.

Kolathur lake project

Efforts will be initiated to restore the long-neglected Kolathur lake and its surplus course with a project estimated at ₹7.30 crore. The department will construct channels to link surplus water from Porur lake to Ramapuram lake; Anai eri in Pallikaranai to the marshland and Thanthikal channel to Porur lake’s surplus course.

The stretch of the Adyar river from the confluence point of Chembarambakkam reservoir’s surplus course till Anakaputhur would be widened. Improvements to stretches of Kosasthalaiyar and Porur lake are part of various flood mitigation work to be taken up at a cost of ₹250 crore. In Kovalam sub basin, the department would bridge the missing links between water channels and waterbodies with four projects devised to the tune of ₹184.22 crore.

While the link canal from Adambakkam lake to Veerangal odai would be improved, a floodwater channel would be constructed till Pallikaranai marshland to reduce waterlogging in Semmencheri and Perumbakkam.