Sanganur stream restoration work suspended over design approval

COIMBATORE: Dredging and development project works at the Sanganur stream, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister MK Stalin in November 2021, has been suspended by the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) due to various issues. The 11 km long stream which passes right through the city has remained dry for several decades. The DMK government implemented a project to revive the water way.

The dredging and development project works are planned to be carried out in two phases. In the first phase, the civic body will rejuvenate the canal for the first 2.2 km starting from the Mettupalayam Road to the Sathyamangalam Road at a cost of Rs 49 crore. In the second phase, the next stretch of 1 km would be revamped at the cost of Rs 30.3 crore.

The civic body will build gabion walls on both sides of the canal, strengthen the bund with reinforced concrete walls, lay pedestrians pathways , etc. But the works have been suspended. A project official  told TNIE that the first phase of the project was scheduled to be completed in 18 months, but as of now, only about 5 to 10% of the works have been completed, where gabion walls have been constructed for the first 200 metres. "The works have been suspended due to pending approval for a change in the design.

The Chief Engineer at the CMA office in Chennai and the PWD officials need to give the nod to go ahead with the project. Talks with the PWD officials are in progress in regards to laying a concrete bed in the stream. The final call will be made later. We have temporarily halted the progress, as numerous encroachments need to be cleared from the banks in order to continue with the works," the official added.

There are more than 2,000 encroachments on both banks of the canal that needs to be evicted by the Town Planning Authority. However, officials are yet to conduct a survey on the total number of houses in the area. In order to evict them, the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board has to provide an alternate accommodation for them at its various projects. But as they are yet to identify the total houses through a survey and provide suitable accommodations, the officials are yet to clear the encroachments and continue with the project works, said the sources.

Speaking to TNIE, CCMC Commissioner M Prathap said, " There is no water flow in the channel as the PWD had built several check dams in the upper reach. So that needs to be corrected first. We are spending about `50 crore and if there's no water flow, then it serves no purpose. So until the upper reach issue is cleared, we have temporarily stopped the works." There are large encroachments alongside the canal and it needs proper planning and alternate accommodation before evicting them as we want to avoid law and order issues, Prathap added.