Chennai: Residents of Velachery’s Tansi Nagar have called for desilting the 3.5-km long macro canal along the Velachery-Taramani link road to prevent flooding during this monsoon.The canal, built nearly a decade ago, extends from Vijayanagar bus stand to SRP Tools on the OMR and drains into the Buckingham Canal, carrying water overflowing from the Velachery lake. Excess rainwater from low-lying areas around Velachery, Taramani, Adambakkam, and Dhandeeswaram also enters the canal before draining into the B-Canal.“It has been several years since the canal has been desilted. As a result, water overflows into areas like TANSI Nagar and Sithapathi Nagar, affecting several families during monsoon. Further, roads and obstructions have also been constructed at inlet points, and several encroachments have cropped up. The works have to be completed before monsoon,” said R Balakrishnan, general secretary, Tansi Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association.The residents have also submitted the demand to Velachery MLA and minister R Kumar at a meeting held last week. Officials of the highways and water resources departments were present to divide the works. Kumar and WRD chief engineer Janaki were unavailable for comment.“The minister has asked both departments to coordinate for desilting. Since the road falls under our control, we will remove obstructions at inlet points. But the desilting work will be taken up by WRD,” a road inspector from the highways department said.
