Cooum River and Roads

                                  Government decided to maintain Cooum River and Roads

After duration of 4 years, the Chennai civic body has taken up the work of maintaining nature surroundings along the sides of Cooum River. Rs.8 crore has been sanctioned for the maintenance and development of an ‘elevated boardwalk’ structure. The Chennai Corporation has planned to build an elevated walking path with wooden structure along the trail as this will provide walkers with an excellent view of the river. But, people who live in Amarprakash project can enjoy river view from this apartment giving no room for Amarprakash builders frauds. Further to this, the civic body has started to prepare the budget list for the development of walkways and parks along the river and other areas.

The 9 spots where parks are to be launched include Chetpet railway station, Link Road, Swami Sivananda Salai, Golden Deorge Nagar and Sterling Road. The officials of the civic department also started to invite tenders for the project by the end of March, 2015. After removing infringements along the river side, the civic body has decided to build a 23 Km wall in order to protect the river from further encroachments. Before carrying out the process, the government officials should inform the local people staying in the nearby slums before starting the wall construction. The wall that is to be developed would be in a similar manner as like that of Adyar Ponga.

The vital aspect of the project is the nature trail that is designed by the Chennai river restoration committee from College Road Bridge to Chetpet Bridge, with regards to the biological diversity in the location. Before few years, the sources said the government has implemented the same ecological plan of the Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure and Financial Services Limited. Along the stretch covering 2 Kms, the civic officials have planted trees and plants to give a nature surrounded look. Along with this, the government has also decided to look into the road development in the city since roads in most of the Chennai areas are facing bad criticism from the residents. So, to prevent indiscriminate road cuts, the civic body has planned to lay new roads.  

As per the sources, the major reason for road damage is continuous digging done for development work by the utility service department. Though, anyone who digs the roads for the purpose of installation of infrastructure facilities or repairs is supposed to inform the civic authority, no one does so. This in turn results in poor quality roads. Hence, it is the duty of the civic body to coordinate with departments like Metrowater, Tangedco and other Telephone departments and protect them from digging up newly laid roads.