Following a campaign by environmentalists and fisherfolk to save the Ennore creek, the Public Works Department is planning to take steps to remove encroachments near the creek and Buckingham canal.
The department would coordinate with the Revenue Department to remove the road laid by Kamarajar Port and L&T Port across the Buckingham Canal near the creek to transport materials, PWD officials told The Hindu .
Admitting that there were encroachments on the Kosasthalaiyar and the creek, a PWD official said, “We have been monitoring the locality and also instructing the port authorities to remove the encroachments now and then.”
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While environmentalists complain of continuing fly ash deposit near the creek and Buckingham Canal, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) officials claim that fly ash was being dumped in the ash ponds belonging to thermal power stations.
On the complaints that thermal power stations, including Vallur and the North Chennai Thermal Power stations, were polluting the Kosasthalaiyar river basin, a senior Tangedco official said the thermal power projects were executed after getting clearance from the environmental agencies from the Central and State governments.
The expert committee formed by the National Green Tribunal had recommended that barricades be put in the ash pond and steps were being taken to remove fly ash, he said.
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PWD officials, however, say that fly ash from the thermal stations gets deposited at the Buckingham Canal and the Tangedco authorities have been instructed to remove them.
Dredging soon
Meanwhile, the PWD is gearing up to dredge the Ennore creek mouth to allow flood water from the Kosasthalaiyar to drain into the sea and alleviate flooding. “As both waterways drain into the sea, closure of the river mouth may cause inundation in north Chennai as flood water would stagnate in the canal and spill over to neighbouring localities,” a senior official said, echoing the words of the environmentalists.
Dredging work was carried out by the Ennore thermal power station earlier but that was to draw seawater for industrial purposes. For six months, dredging work has been halted as old units of Ennore power stations have been dismantled for new and bigger thermal power stations.
According to sources in the Water Resources Department, the creek mouth, which is nearly 100 m wide, had silted up heavily, and dredging would be taken up soon. The Kamarajar port authorities have come forward to fund the project, an official said.