Urban News

The Hindu 31.07.2009

Cleaning of key canal in city begins

Special Correspondent

Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

MASSIVE TASK: Garbage, stones and silt being removed from a canal that links the Big Tank at Ukkadam with Valankulam. —

COIMBATORE: The cleaning of a key canal at Ukkadam in the city is on, in order to ensure that surplus water flows from the Big Tank to the Valankulam. These two tanks are among the eight that enable the ground water level to remain high, provided enough rainwater flows into these.

The nearly 1,000 ft canal is being rid of garbage and silt that have cut off flow from the Big Tank to the Valankulam. The cleaning is being done after complaints about a couple of weeks ago that surplus water from River Noyyal was not reaching the Valankulam.

Anguished

Siruthuli, a people’s movement for the conservation of water resources, was anguished over dry patches on the vast Valankulam despite heavy flow in the river.

Collector P. Umanath carried out an inspection of the tanks and canals along with the officials of the Public Works Department and the Coimbatore Corporation. The choked canal was identified as the main culprit and various options were examined to remove the garbage.

A Corporation engineer said on Thursday that work to clean the canal was on over the last four days. It would go on for another five days as a huge amount of garbage, plastics waste, glass bottles, stones and mud had to be removed.

Earth mover

The engineer said 40 workers of the Corporation and an earth mover were engaged in clearing the blocks. The canal was three-and-a-half feet wide and more than 15 ft deep.

The workers were manually removing the waste in the canal and wherever there was space for it, the earthmover was removing garbage, mud and stones.

One of the suggestions made during the inspection was that water cannon could be used to flush out the waste if the space was too narrow for workers to get in.

The engineer said whatever could be removed with the help of the workers would be done now. The flushing could be done after this. But, he was confident that the force of the water flowing from the Big Tank would remove the remaining small blocks.

The Hindu 31.07.2009

Second airport proposal for Chennai gaining momentum

A. Srivathsan and P.Oppili

CHENNAI: The proposal for a greenfield airport at Sriperumbudur is gaining momentum following Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman V.P. Agrawal’s announcement putting on hold the construction of a parallel runway at the Chennai airport.

The State government has started showing renewed interest in building a new airport near Sriperumbudur.

An earlier proposal by the State government had identified nearly 4,500 acres, spread over 42 villages in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts, for the second airport.

Villages identified

Government sources say Kiloy, Siru Kiloy, Mambakkam and Vadamangalam in the Sriperumbudur block in Kancheepuram district and Thiruppandhiyur, Kottaiyur and Vayalur in the Kadambathur block in Tiruvallur district are some of the villages identified for acquiring land for the project.

The AAI Chairman had also pointed out that according to an internal study taken up by them, Sriperumbudur was an ideal location for a second airport.

The State government was thinking on the same lines, which would fulfil the need for a bigger airport for Chennai.

Kancheepuram district Revenue officials are preparing a detailed project report for acquiring 40 acres for the secondary runway expansion project. This would be contiguous to the already acquired 129 acres, which had been handed over to the AAI.

The additional area would be used for constructing perimeter fencing and lighting around that area, say Revenue officials.

The acquisition process is expected to begin in about three months, the Revenue officials add.