Work to restore two rivers in Vaniyambadi town commences

Minister for Water Resources Duraimurugan along with the Minister for Public Works and Highways E.V. Velu and Tirupattur Collector K. Sivasoundaravalli at the event on restoration of two rivers in Vaniyambadi.

Work on to restore Kallar and Chinna Palar rivers, key tributaries of Palar, maintained by the Water Resources Department (WRD), in Vaniyambadi town in Tirupattur was commenced on Saturday. 
 
The two rivers, which navigates through the town before joining Palar river, is a lifeline especially for residents in the town for domestic consumption and to recharge groundwater in its vicinity. “The rivers help us to maintain water level in borewells and farm wells during summer. However, the water bodies became polluted in recent years due to illegal discharge of sullage into them,” said Mohammed Ashraf, a resident.
 
Minister for Water Resources, Duraimurugan, laid the foundation stone for restoration of two rivers at a cost of Rs nine crore in the presence of Minister for Public Works and Highways E.V. Velu and Tirupattur Collector K. Sivasoundaravalli.

At present, the rivers, which are non-perennial, run around three kms in the town. Each river, on an average, is around 45 metres wide with a depth of 4.25 metres. WRD officials said that Kallar river can discharge 3,800 cusecs of water whereas Chinna Palar can discharge around 8,500 cusecs of water per second.

Both rivers help to prevent inundation of the town during monsoon. “Restoration of the rivers will help to discharge more excess rainwater into Palar as water flow in the rivers will be steady. The entire work will be completed by the end of the year (2025),” J. Pavithran, Assistant Engineer, WRD (Vaniyambadi), told The Hindu.

As part of the work, which will be done under Rehabilitation and Restoration of Lakes scheme 2024-25, WRD officials said that silt deposited on the entire riverbed to a distance of three kms will be removed. It will help to bring uniformity in the riverbed to ensure steady water flow on it.

WRD officials, garbage dumping in the rivers remains a key challenge. Around 210 tonnes of estimated garbage have to be removed from the rivers. As part of restoration, steel fencing to a height of six feet will be installed to a distance of 1.5 kms on both sides of the rivers to prevent garbage dumping by residents in future.
 
WRD officials have also requested to strengthen door-to-door waste collection and installation of dust bins at key spots in the town to prevent dumping of wastes into the rivers. It is estimated around 1.5 lakh residents reside along two rivers in the town.
 
Also, also with Vaniyambadi municipality, WRD has identified 30 illegal inlets that discharge sullage from the town into the rivers. All these inlets will be closed permanently. A new Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) will be built by the civic body to treat sullage in the town.