Another plan for the Cooum

by The Editor

Yet another Cooum clean-up has been announced, this one at a cost of Rs.2,000 crore. The figures keep getting bigger each time, but the river remains wh­at it was – a sewer into which all the refuse of the City is dum­p­ed. It is an eyesore and a black ma­rk for a metro that has pretensions to becoming world-class. How are we to believe that this latest round of expenditure will help improve matters?

The new plan has all the usual features – plugging of untreated sewerage being dumped into the river, clearing the banks of encroachments, setting up gardens and recreation spaces, and making the waterway a lifeline to the city. The broad plan is broken up into several smaller ones, the bulk being 60 sub-schemes to be implemented over a period of three years at a cost of Rs.600 crore. With this, the Cooum River Restoration Project, pigeonholed since 2011 largely because it was the brainchild of an earlier regime, has been officially revived. The Corporation of Chennai is expected to play an important role, especially in the removal of solid waste that has accumulated on the banks. Over 15,000 families are to be relocated. The river, it is believed, will, at the end of this, be a living entity and a popular destination both for residents as well as visitors.

How much of the public is to be given access to the clean stream that will eventually emerge is a matter of doubt, for also on the anvil is the construction of a fence all along the banks, at the cost of Rs.50 crore. If that does happen, it would be a pity, for that would mean the river being cut off from the citizens. It will eventually degrade the way it has over the years.

There are also concerns that the plans are all elitist – those who attended the consultation trashed the study as it focused principally on beautification, which included building of cycle tracks and parks along with upmarket housing on space that is now occupied by shanties. Some were of the view that the study did not take into account the views of the slum dwellers. It also skirted around the issue of wastes being let into the river by Government agencies. Among those who were present were representatives from the slums who feared that in the name of resettlement they would be displaced to far away colonies, completely removed from the places where they earn their livelihood.

It remains to be seen how effective the latest plan will be. As regular readers of Madras Musings are aware, there have been several such schemes, all of which have come to naught largely because of vested interests (several Government agencies, healthcare facilities and private institutions have encroached on the river banks and merrily dump their waste into it) and lack of coordination among the various Government bodies that are involved (last heard, there are nine of them).

What makes us hopeful that this scheme may just succeed where others have not is that there is now an increasing awareness among the public about the sorry state of the river. It is no longer the problem of someone in authority. There has been a spurt of activity concerning the Cooum on social media, presentations have been made in public forums, and the conventional media has been repeatedly drawing attention to the river. With so much public pressure, Government has decided to act, which is to the good. How this will pan out, is anybody’s guess.

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