District Green Committee permits felling of six trees in Mambalam for storm-water drain work

The District Green Committee has approved the felling of six trees on Arya Gowda Road in the flood-prone West Mambalam for the construction of storm-water drain to mitigate flooding in a 3 sq. km. area

The District Green Committee has approved the felling of six trees on Arya Gowda Road in the flood-prone West Mambalam for the construction of storm-water drain to mitigate flooding in a 3 sq. km. area.

The decision is expected to provide relief to the residents from frequent flooding although the project had been delayed for a long time because of presence of eight trees along the stretch. 

However, the Greater Chennai Corporation has decided to change the alignment of the storm-water drain to save two peepal trees on the stretch. “We will not remove the two peepal trees. We will realign the drain. The construction of the storm-water drain will resume next week. Six trees will be axed. The original proposal was to cut eight trees on Arya Gowda Road. We changed the alignment and decided to save two peepal trees. Later, the District Green Committee approved the removal of six trees. The officials from the Forest Department inspected the road,” said an official.

Residents of Arya Gowda Road had complained about the delay in the completion of storm-water drain work. The project is expected to be completed ahead of the northeast monsoon this year. Once the project is completed, buses on route numbers 11G, 11H, 12H and 49A will resume operations along the stretch. Buses were diverted six months ago because of the delay in the implementation of the project.

The new storm-water drain along 880 metres of Arya Gowda Road will carry flood waters to Mambalam Canal through Reddikuppam Canal.