Chennai: Kancheepuram revenue authorities on Thursday announced that south Chennai which witnessed unprecedented flooding in 2015 will breathe easy during the ensuing monsoon as the reclamation of encroached Adyar river is progressing at full pace.
According to revenue sources, a high level team led by IAS officer P. Amudha who monitored the flood mitigation works in Kancheepuram strongly recommended the demolition of illegal buildings, but the demolition was carried out in Tambaram, whereas the proposal was put on hold in Adyar upstream areas due to public protest. However now with the Madras high court passing orders to keep water bodies from encroachments the eviction drive has been intensified, sources said.
“As many as 804 illegal structures have been identified on Adyar river and on Thursday more than 30 buildings were brought down, within this week all the illegal; structures will be cleared and the widened river bund will be handed over to public works department”, said Tambaram revenue divisional officer R. Chandrasekhar.
Earlier in the day, tension broke out in Anagaputhur, when the demolition began. At one stage the police warned action against protesters and pacified the residents to opt for alternate sites provided by the revenue department at Semmemchery. The residents also urged the state authoriti
es to provide alternate housing sites in the nearby area as the studies of their children and their livelihood will be affected if shifted to remote Semmenchery. Sensing trouble police deployed more than 300 police personnelon Thursday. “Clearing of waterways has been a long pending demand and the state should also focus on water bodies that has lost its catchment areas in Kancheepuram district due to encroachments”, said D Vijayakumar, a 2015 flood hit victim residing in Tambaram.
