Chennai: The Water Resources Department is fencing sections of the Adyar River bund, two months after evicting over 900 families as part of a river restoration project. While most encroachments between Anakaputhur and Tiruneermalai were cleared, a mosque and a Hindu temple were left untouched.A lamp is lit at the temple, built under a temporary shed, every day by a few devotees. A dozen policemen from the Tambaram city police guard the mosque, which also houses a madrasa, around the clock. Tambaram Corporation has installed CCTV cameras to monitor people’s movement to prevent ‘untoward incidents’. The madrasa is vacant, and the buildings adjacent to the mosque have also been left half-razed, Tambaram Corporation officials said.During the eviction drive, the jamaat sought time until Bakrid (June 7), which the WRD and Tambaram Corporation accepted. More than a month after that, there is no sign of them vacating the premises. Tambaram police have now urged the corporation to end the stalemate so that their personnel can be better utilised. “We are in talks with the jamaat of the mosque to persuade them to clear the space themselves. The jamaat has not agreed to clear the space. We will arrive at a solution,” said a top official in Tambaram Corporation.WRD officials said that the retrieved portions are fenced to thwart re-encroachments. “The width of the river near the Pallavaram-Kundrathur road is very narrow, which obstructs the water flow during monsoon and causes floods in the neighbourhood when Chembarambakkam Lake is opened. Widening the river will prevent flooding, while river-front development will also be taken up on the land as part of the Adyar River restoration project to be carried out by Chennai Rivers Transformation Company Ltd (CRTCL),” said WRD officials.
