The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has undertaken an impressive cleanup initiative, successfully removing over 600 tonnes of garbage and 250 tonnes of debris from waterbodies and their banks in the span of nearly four months. The cleanup operations, spanning from August 19, 2023, to November 4, 2023, focused on major canals, and river basins including Kosasthalaiyar, Cooum, and Adyar, as well as 33 micro canals, covering a total length of 49 km.
To achieve this, the GCC utilized two heavy vehicles for major canals and river basins, along with four robotic excavators and three mini-heavy vehicles for the remaining canals. The comprehensive works included the removal of water hyacinth, rank vegetation, floating materials, and de-silting. The GCC highlighted that main canals undergo cleaning twice a year to enhance their carrying capacity and improve stormwater flow capacities, contributing to overall environmental maintenance.
Despite the cleanup efforts, the GCC Commissioner, J. Radhakrishnan, noted the challenge of high levels of open-dumped plastic garbage, even with a twice-weekly collection frequency.