Residents welcome drive to clean stormwater canal

Coimbatore: The city corporation has taken up cleaning of a storm water drainage canal, which starts on Avinashi Road and ends at Singanallur tank, covering a distance of 3km. The unnamed canal passes through the left side of Fun Mall. Residents living near the canal, which was not cleaned for a long period, welcomed the move.
An official with the east zone engineering wing said the cleaning drive was on and they had completed work on a kilometre stretch from Avinashi Road so far.
“The canal helps water from the residential areas drain into Singanallur tank. We are planning to complete the work before the onset of the northeast monsoon. Overgrowth of bushes and weeds are posing a challenge. Plans are also afoot to clean Sanganoor Pallam, a major canal in the east zone, soon,” the official said.
R Ravishankar, a resident of Hudco Colony at Peelamedu, said the cleaning drive had addressed the issue of mosquito menace to an extent. “Earlier, we couldn’t stay by mosquitoes at our houses in the evenings. The situation is a lot better after the stretch of canal next to our residential area was cleaned.”
He said the commuters were also happy with the drive, as they no longer needed to endure the stinking smell from the canal. “Weeds were obstructing the flow of drainage water, causing odour. The surroundings look much cleaner now.”