Park coming up along B-Canal in Chepauk

On Swami Sivananda Salai in Chepauk, by the side of the Buckingham Canal where old, heritage navigational locks stand, their iron chipping away on account of a corrosive caress of salty air, coffee-coloured sand is being piled up.

Tipper lorries belch out dredged material which is then levelled by a JCB. The levelling work has formed a neat plateau on top of the piled-up material. This dredged material is generated by the desilting work being carried out by Water Resources Department on a 7.3-km stretch of the Buckingham Canal, from Swami Sivananda Salai to Raja Annamalai Puram.

According to a WRD source familiar with the work, the sand is being collected for use in river-front development-beautification exercises.

In an initiative driven by the Deputy Chief Minister’s office, a stretch of the canal, from Swami Sivananda Salai to Chepauk MRTS, was explored to identify a space suitable for this form of development. This section on Swami Sivananda Salai was settled upon as it checked all the boxes the need to be checked, says the WRD official, adding that a park and a walkway are among the features of this beautification exercise.

Heritage locks

The official also underlines a proposal to restore the navigational locks found on this section in a manner that does not take away from their originality. And he adds that the plan goes beyond just restoring them for the heritage value they bring, but also to make them functional once again as navigational locks. It is in alignment with efforts to restore the Buckingham Canal to its original character as a navigational route for watercraft.

The WRD official notes that the stone masonry work is central to the essence of these navigational locks and that is intact; the iron materials are the ones that would require to be re-fabricated and refitted.