Chennai: Porur lake to be restored at Rs 100 crore

CHENNAI: The Porur lake, one of the most encroached water bodies in the city, is to be restored at ₹100 crore.
The state public works department (PWD) has begun the project that comprises four different components including a surplus channel that is expected to prevent flooding in half-a-dozen surrounding areas.
Restoration of the surplus channel which had been covered in the last several years will involve construction of a regulator, a senior PWD official said. Surplus from the lake used to pass through patta lands before they were converted into residential colonies, with the newly laid Chennai Bypass compounding the issue. Areas such as Koluthuvancherry, Srinivasapuram, Baraniputthur, Pattur and Ayyappanthangal were regularly flooded including in November last year.
Now, along with box culverts to take the surplus, a covered channel will be laid between Thanthikaalvai at Kolathuvancheri and the surplus channel and another between the lake and Ramapuram nallah. After the restoration, surplus water from the lake will drain into Ramapuram nallah and thence flow into the Adyar, the official said.
Another official said the project is scheduled to be completed in six months, but added that the selected contractor had been asked to finish it before the onset of the northeast monsoon in the middle of October. The project, once completed, will ensure that Dhanalakshmi Nagar, Kumara Nagar, Sri Sai Nagar, Madhuram Nagar, Jothi Nagar, Balaji Nagar, Srinivasapuram and Mangadu, which are close to the lake, along with Koluthuvancherry, Srinivasapuram, Baraniputhur, Pattur, Periapanacherry, Ayyappanthangal, Gerugambakkam, Kolappakkam, Madhanandhapuram, Mugalivakkam and Manappakkam will be free of water logging during the monsoon, he said.