Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Eviction drive along ‘Kathan Vaical’

— Photo: M. Moorthy

Cleaning up: A Corporation earthmover engaged in demolishing unauthorised structures on the ‘Kathan Vaical’ in Tiruchi on Thursday.

TIRUCHI: The Tiruchi Corporation on Thursday launched a major eviction operation to rid the Kathan Vaical, a vital drainage channel running along the flood-prone residential colonies off the Vayalur Road, of encroachments.

The move comes in the wake of persistent complaints from residents of the area over the frequent inundation of the low-lying colonies during the monsoon. The channel, under the control of the Public Works Department (PWD), branches off from the Uyyakondan River near Kallankadu and flows into the Kudamuritti River. It traverses for about five km across many residential colonies including Ammaiyappa Nagar, Srinivasa Nagar and Geetha Nagar. It has shrunk to about just two to three feet in width from its original width of about 16 feet and often overflowed into the colonies during the monsoon.

Being a politically sensitive issue, the Corporation has long been dithering over removing the encroachments. The drive was launched after a joint survey by the Corporation and the PWD officials recently.

About 16 houses were found to have been constructed well over the channel of the 40 major encroachments identified during the survey. In 24 other cases, compound walls of houses had been constructed over the channel, which served as an important storm water drain during the monsoon. These apart, several other minor unauthorised structures were also identified. A police outpost on the Vayalur Road would be demolished and built anew at an alternative site, Corporation officials said.

On Thursday, the Corporation officials deployed earthmovers and a team of labourers to demolish the unauthorised structures after getting the clearance from the PWD for removing the encroachments. It would also request the PWD to hand over the channel to the civic body for future maintenance.

Corporation Commissioner T. T. Balsamy, who inspected the work, told The Hindu that the operation was expected to be completed within a week. Once the encroachments were removed, the entire channel would be desilted.

The civic body was also planning to build retaining walls along the channel. Corporation Executive Engineer R. Chandran, K. Abishekapuram zonal chairman, R. Arivudainambi supervised the operation.

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