Work to dredge and widen 2-km portion of the Adyar closer to estuary begins

The ₹21.63-crore project was taken up after the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, gave the coastal zone regulation clearance

The Water Resources Department began desilting and widening of a 2-km portion of the Adyar downstream of Thiru Vi Ka bridge on Wednesday.

The department has deployed machinery to remove silt from the river bed and cleared vegetation along the bund. The ₹21.63-crore project has been initiated after the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, gave the coastal zone regulation clearance.

The work aims to widen the river and improve the flood-carrying capacity of the river closer to the estuary to alleviate flooding in the surrounding areas. The EAC has suggested that desilting of the river must be carried out on an area of 176.35 acres and not in the mangrove area. The island in the river spread over 54.72 acres will be exempted from desilting.

Officials said about 4.86 lakh cubic metre of silt is estimated to be removed from the stretch between Thiru Vi Ka bridge and mouth. “We plan to use the cleared silt to form and strengthen bunds wherever required. The remaining amount of silt will be stored inside the river banks and diverted to Greater Chennai Corporation’s Kodungaiyur dump yard,” said an official.

Nearly 1.90 lakh cubic metre of silt removed from the river bed would be conveyed to vacant open space reservation land of the GCC. The project would help smoothen tidal exchange closer to the estuary.

The department plans to finish the project before the northeast monsoon in October. The process is on to obtain CRZ clearance for dredging the Adyar river mouth as well as along with Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust.