Experts warn of flood, oppose link road along Adyar river

The Highways department has proposed the new link road along the Adyar river to decongest the city traffic. 

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on July 15 announced in the assembly that feasibility study of a slew of highway projects in the city, including the link road along Adyar between Thiru Vi Ka bridge and Maraimalai Adigalar bridge at a cost of Rs 1.70 crore.  S Janakarajan, former professor of the Madras Institute of Development Studies said that if a road was laid along the Adyar river in the flood plain, it was going to result in ecological disaster. “Already Adyar river is heavily encroached and it is already shrunk. If they are going to construct a road, it is going to be an elevated road, which will be four to five meters. If the 2015 flood occurs once more, it will result in a serious disaster. It is not at all a good idea to have a link road along the Adyar river,” he told DT Next. 

He urged the State government to protect the flood carrier, sought the removal of encroachments. “The river should be deepened, and its elevation should be levelled. Moreover, it should be protected as a flood carrier. Otherwise it would affect the city,” he said. 

G Sundarrajan of environmental NGO Poovulagin Nanbargal said that Chennai city would be more prone to floods if the link road was constructed along the Adyar river. “Already the width of the river has been largely reduced at Saidapet, which, in turn, resulted in the reduction of the carrying capacity of the river. Reducing the carrying capacity of the river led to the flooding of areas like KK Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Saidapet and Mambalam during the 2015 flood,” he said. 

A senior Highways department official said that the final decision on the project would be taken only after studying its feasibility. “The department would not construct any structures on the river or water bodies affecting its flow,” the official said. 

It may be noted that in 2006-11, the then DMK regime had proposed a similar project to construct 100 km long Chennai Circular Corridor Project running along banks of the Adyar and Cooum rivers and Buckingham Canal. However, the project did not take off.