Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments P.K. Sekar Babu and Mayor R. Priya inspected ongoing Northeast monsoon preparedness works and development projects under the ‘Vada Chennai Valarchi Thittam’ (North Chennai Development Plan) on Monday, with officials.
The Mayor inspected the use of Robotic Multi-Purpose Excavators for cleaning the Padi and Gandhi Nagar drains. Speaking to reporters, the Mayor said that the Greater Chennai Corporation has procured two additional excavators worth ₹22.80 crore to remove water hyacinth, waste, and silt from waterbodies in the city. Additionally, silt removal work is in progress in the Captain Cotton canal using a rented machine from Gujarat, she added.
Further, the civic body has two amphibian vehicles, three mini amphibian machines, seven high-capacity water-suction jetting machines with recycling facilities, and nine hydraulic tree-cutting machines, as a part of its monsoon preparedness measures.
The Minister reviewed projects, managed by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) — ₹6.26 crore upgrade of Kolathur lake, the construction of a new dialysis centre in Kolathur at a cost of ₹12 crore, and the development of a co-working space worth ₹2.5 crore, the construction of 700 high-rise apartments in Adyar and 504 apartments in George Town under State government schemes.
They inspected the desilting works that were being carried out using mini amphibian machines and robotic multi-purpose excavators, in many parts, such as in Ward 170 near the Adyar River, Ward 191 in Perungudi zone, Ward 27 in Madhavaram zone, Ward 72 in Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar zone near Railway Bridge at Reddy Kuppam drain, etc.
Housing and Urban Development Department Principal Secretary Kakarla Usha, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority Member Secretary Anshul Mishra, Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board Managing Director S. Prabhakar, GCC Regional Deputy Commissioners (Central) K.J. Praveen Kumar and (North) Katta Ravi Teja, GCC Standing Committee Chairperson (Public Health) K. Shanthakumar and many officials were present.
