Deccan Chronicle 25.11.2009

Cooum remains an eyesore in city

Chennai
Nov. 24: Forty years have gone by since the first DMK chief minister, C.N. Annadurai, conceived an idea to clean up the Cooum, but the stench from the polluted river continues to make life difficult to this day. In 1967, during Annadurai’s regime, a clean-up project was launched. In 1973, chief minister M. Karunanidhi launched pleasure boat services, in 1976 P. Sivalingam Committee recommended a Rs 22 crore project to improve Chennai’s waterways, in 1991, consultancy firm Seven Trent was commissioned to suggest ways to improve the waterways, in 1994, a study by Mott MacDonald proposed projects worth Rs 34.8 crore for improving the Cooum, in 1998, Rs 19 crore was earmarked for improving the quality of Cooum water.

Finally, in 2000, Chennai City River Conservation Project was launched with an outlay of Rs 720 crore and in 2008, the government said World Bank help would be sought for the purpose. It was said the then PWD minister Durai Murugan and Mr Stalin called on Sai Baba to ask him to donate funds for cleaning up the Cooum.

But all these efforts have found space only on paper and podium, say environmentalists. Mr C.S. Kuppuraj, retired engineer, PWD, said the hutments on Cooum’s banks should be removed first. The government must plug sewage inlets, says Mr S.M. Arasu, a PWD retiree.

But if Mr Stalin’s trip to Singapore, ostensibly to study how to rejuvenate the Cooum, is successful and there is political will, then from being an eyesore, the Cooum could well be changed into a lifeline of the bourgeoning metro.