1,500cr plan to restore Adyar river runs into vote bank politics, as encroachments remain
Chennai: A Rs 1,500-crore project to rejuvenate and restore a 'dead' 44-km stretch of River Adyar is stuck since 2023 and lying choked in the city. Reason: Petty, local politics which has been obstructing and derailing every effort to remove and relocate encroachers.The past three states budgets, including the one presented by Palanivel Thiaga Rajan in 2023, have referred to the project, but not a brick has been moved on the ground.
In the latest budget announcement in Feb, the present finance minister, Thangam Thennarasu, said a stretch of river from Thiru Vi Ka Bridge in Adyar to Saidapet Bridge would be restored in 15 months, while the entire river, till zero point near Guduvanchery Lake, would be restored in 30 months. Yet, nothing has changed on the ground.Tamil Nadu govt even created a company —
Chennai Rivers Transformation Company
Limited — last year with an IAS officer heading it to execute the project.
This company hired a concessionaire, Khilari, to prepare a detailed project report and restore the river. Yet, they have not been able to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) because at least 2,300 encroaching houses on the river in prime stretches like Saidapet, Kotturpuram, and Jafferkhanpet are yet to be removed. Officials blame local politicians and say they are stalling the drive.The project is designed in such a way that out of the Rs 1,500 crore, the contractor Khilari has to mobilise Rs 750 crore finance from banks, while the state will provide the rest.
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"To get a finance closure, the contractor has to show end-to-end project execution possibilities in the DPR to the banks. The DPR involves creating trunk sewer lines along the riverbanks to deflect sewage and constructing a sewage-treatment plant (STP). Without removing encroachments, these designs cannot be shown in the DPR," said an official. The Rs 1,500 crore is capital charges, and the govt will give another Rs 3,500 crore for maintenance for a period of 15 years.Officials said local politicians are stalling removal of at least 700 houses in Thideer Nagar of Saidapet, 350 houses in Jafferkhanpet, and about 350 houses in Kotturpuram. "The city commissioner of police has agreed to give us police support to remove encroachments, but local politicians prevent officials from taking even biometric surveys by ensuring the deployment of strongmen to stage protests," said an official.When TOI made a spot visit to these neighbourhoods, except for a few "owners," most of them were tenants paying rent of Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000 to slumlords, who have hijacked the entire riverbanks. These slumlords, backed by politicians, prevent authorities from taking biometrics.The Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board has over 1,000 houses ready for these river encroachers in places like Perumbakkam, Ekkatuthangal, Thiruvottiyur, and Ambattur. "Yet, they are not willing to leave. Local politicians are holding them back, as these encroachers collectively constitute about 10,000 votes," said the official.About five STPs are planned in these encroachment areas. "How can we proceed with the project with encroachers on the banks letting out sewage? Even if we restore near the estuary, sewage is still going to come from the top."When contacted, the state health minister, Ma Subramanian, who represents the Saidapet constituency where the project is stalled, said the encroachers have to be given houses in the area itself. "They cannot be moved elsewhere as they have lived here for years. We will arrive at a solution in three months," he said.In Dec 2024, water resources minister Duraimuguran instructed all MLAs not to obstruct encroachment removal drives. "MLAs must not stall drives by seeing their votes will get affected," he told them.TNUHDB officials, however, said the Saidapet area was already congested, but they will attempt to provide accommodation in the vicinity. "Only announcements have come for three years, but nothing has happened. If they are not removing encroachments even after having all authentic data of the extent of the width of the river, it is questionable," said water management expert S Janakarajan.A detailed feasibility report done by Chennai Metro Water for this project revealed that the river has lost its life with 0 dissolved oxygen per mg/l. A river must have more than 4 mg/l dissolved oxygen for life to sustain. "The river restoration is intricate. They have to plug sewage too, remove silt which will be 2-metres deep. I don't know what they are going to do," said Janakarajan.
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