Velachery may go under water this year too.

Residents of Velachery and Taramani may have to bear with inundation and battered roads this monsoon season too, as the Rs. 80-crore project to construct a canal along Taramani Link Road will miss yet another deadline.

The work to construct the canal to divert excess water from Veerangal Odai and Velachery lake to South Buckingham Canal is running behind schedule and expected to be completed only by March next year.

About 80 per cent of the work, which was started two years ago, has been completed. Of the total 4 km of the canal, the department has managed to complete 3.1 km so far.

The Water Resources Department (WRD), which is implementing the project, has been facing several challenges, including shifting of underground cables crisscrossing the road, which is a crucial link road between Velachery and Rajiv Gandhi Salai.

Officials of WRD said work was progressing slowly as they had to break through hard rocks at several spots, including near Vijaya Nagar bus stand, TCS and Nallathambi Street. “We are using chemicals to chip off the rocks at a depth of seven metres; we cannot use any other method due to safety issues in this densely populated area. But, even this is difficult as the groundwater level has increased,' said an official.

There are also plans to use the box-pushing technology to interlink the canal to South Buckingham canal beneath Lattice bridge near Rajiv Gandhi Salai, without hindering traffic. 'This project will help minimise floods and cannot completely control floods in the low-level areas of Velachery,' the official added.

The delay in completing the canal construction has also pushed the deadline for the highways department’s work on widening the road into a six-laner.

'Of the total 3,650 metres, only 2,500 metres have been completed. The remaining 1,150 metres are still with the WRD and traffic is now being allowed only in three lanes,' a source said.


THE HINDU