Chennai: Rs 2,300 crore spent to clean Cooum, but dumping of sewage continues | Chennai News – Times of India

CHENNAI: The state government is spending Rs 2,300 crore for restoring the Cooum, but sewage and garbage continue to be illegally dumped into the river, scuppering all efforts and investment.
The Greater Chennai Corporation has claimed to have removed more than 23,000 tonnes of garbage apart from fencing and setting up trash booms to catch floating sewage. The Metrowater has claimed to have cut 13 of the 37 sewage outlets in the Cooum and built a sewage treatment plant at Chetpet. Two sewage treatment plants at Nungambakkam and Langs Garden Road are expected to be wrapped up by March 2022.
Metrowater has also installed sewage interceptors at 80% of all identified locations. But several activists are convinced that all these efforts are of no use in the absence of a fool-proof mechanism to stop illegal dumping of sewage and garbage in the river.
“At least 100 private lorries empty sewage into the pumping stations at Perungudi and Mogappair every day. A few of them dump it illegally in the Cooum to avoid paying up or to cut the travel time and diesel costs,” said a metro water official.
V Umanath, a resident of Mogappair, said sewage lorries regularly stop near George Rathinam Road and dump it directly into the river. “If this illegal act is reported in newspapers, for a few days, lorries dump it in vacant plots and escape,” he said.
The Chennai Metrowater’s proposal to develop an application onboarding all lorry owners and vendors under a GPS system is still mired in red tape, and is pending with the state government, a senior Metrowater engineer said..
Tiruvallur district collector Alby John recently held a meeting with lorry owners in the district and warned lorry owners of strict action, heavy penalties and penal action if they are found dumping waste in the river. A Metrowater official said it’s difficult to monitor the private lorry lobby.