Making North Chennai water bodies ready for monsoon

Chennai: It was not the legal compulsion. But, a serious campaign by the Ennore fishing community on the issues of environmental violation at the creek that pushed the authorities to commence works.

Fly ash is being cleared in the Buckingham canal near North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS), blockages at the mouth of the canal that connects to creek is being deepened and access road laid by Tangedco behind Ennore thermal power station is being removed. However, effective monitoring is still not in place, the community members complained to the district environmental engineer on Wednesday demanding full-fledged work.

Representatives of the Ennore All Fisher Village Coalition and Coastal Resource Centre who met Disaster Relief Commissioner K. Satyagopal last month put forth the problems in the creek The commission convened a meeting with the Tiruvallur district collector and officials of Tangedco to propose actions in order to arrest flooding in North Chennai.

Ennore fishing villages deployed 120 boats to rescue more than 30,000 stranded people during the devastating floods of November – December 2015. Fishermen blamed the crisis on the pollution and industrial encroachments of poromboke wetlands associated with the Kosasthalaiyar and Ennore Creek. “Storage capacity of these water bodies drastically decreased; connectivity between them lost and flow obstructed. It was due to such human interventions that the locality was worst affected during floods,” said Ravimaran, a fisherman.

Pooja Kumar of Coastal Resource Centre said, “We are happy that a strong campaign was effective in bringing a change. Works are on to remove the fly ash at the canal near ash pipeline of North Chennai Thermal Power Station. However, an effective disposal mechanism of the ash is requisite so that it does not get back into the water.”

A Tangedco staffer allegedly told the activists that they were not given any directions to proceed with the work.

“Only a superficial removal was done over a small stretch before the earthmover got stuck in the deep fly-ash slurry. Another earthmover was pressed into service,” added Pooja Kumar.

Though the mouth of the canal that flows to Ennore creek is being deepened, it is learnt that the restoration is not done to the original depth.

R.L. Srinivasan, president of the Kaattukuppam Fishermen’s Cooperative Society said, “Work is  not progressing as they should be. Requesting strict monitoring, we have complained to the district environmental engineer on Tuesday.”