Deccan Chronicle 09.12.2009

Task force, panels to help clean up Cooum in 10 yrs

Dec. 8: Preliminary works for the Cooum river restoration project began on Tuesday with the public works department (PWD) handing over a stretch of Cooum riverbank to Chennai corporation for developing an eco-park near Chintadripet between Anderson causeway and Haris road bridge.

Inaugurating the function, deputy chief minister M.K. Stalin said under the first phase, Rs 1,200 crore would be spent for restoring the 72 km river. “We will form special task force and committees to ensure that the project is completed within a span of 10 years,” Mr Stalin said.

The Tamil Nadu government will accord top priority to the revival of the highly polluted Cooum that flows through Chennai and Tiruvallur. As a first step, encroachments will be removed and the affected rehabilitated, he said.

Removing the encroachments and arresting sewer inflow would be 50 per cent of the work and the remaining will include beautification. The Chennai River Authority, formed on the chief minister’s direction, will periodically review the progress of the project.

In the one-km stretch handed over to the corporation, it would develop play area for children, a lawn and footpaths, said Mr Stalin. Chennai mayor M Subramanian, deputy chief minister’s secretary Dheenabandhu, corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni and PWD officials were present.