The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has informed the Madras High Court that it was the first in the State to purchase an amphibian vehicle from Finland at a cost of ₹4.43 crore and three robotic excavators from Switzerland at a total cost of ₹19.64 crore for cleaning as many as 30 canals maintained by it across the city.
Status report
The submission was made in a status report filed M. Vijayalakshmi, Deputy Commissioner (Health), GCC, before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar, in response to a public interest litigation petition preferred by advocate A.P. Suryaprakasam alleging improper maintenance of canals.
“The amphibian vehicle/excavators are currently put into operation and the works are being carried out on priority basis. These machines/vehicles are used for desilting operations, removal of hyacinth and other floating materials from the canals maintained by the Greater Chennai Corporation as well as the canals maintained by the Public Works Department,” the report read.
It went on to state that the amphibian vehicle had so far been pressed into service for 6,125 hours to remove 4,232 tonnes of silt and hyacinth after covering a distance of 27.9 km around Captain Cotton Canal, North B Canal, Central B Canal, Velachery Lake, Adyar River, Otteri Nullah Canal and Kodungaiyur Canal.
Desilted canals
Similarly, the three robotic excavators had been put into operation for 2,354 hours to remove 5,201 tonnes of silt and hyacinth after covering a distance of 32.1 km around the Mambalam Canal, the Nungambakkam Canal, the MGR Canal, the Adyar River, the Trustpuram Canal, the Choolaimedu Canal, the Padikuppam Canal, the Vysarpadi Link Canal and the Cooum River, among others.
“I respectfully submit that the Greater Chennai Corporation has reduced the mosquitoes density drastically, particularly in North Chennai, by removal of hyacinth with the sole objective of ensuring free flow of water in the canals to prevent inundation and flooding,” the Deputy Commissioner claimed.