BENEATH GREEN CANOPY ROT GARBAGE PILES

JUST before getting onto the Thiru Vi Ka Bridge, a narrow road leads into Malligai Poo Kuppam, a settlement on the Adyar river bank.

- NIMISHA S PRADEEP

This settlement was part of the 2.4-km stretch from Kotturpuram MRTS Bridge to Thiru Vi Ka Bridge, where the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) planted 30,000 plants in 2022.

While the plants are doing| largely well today, the area welcomes you not with the fragrance of neem, but with the overpowering stench of urine and garbage.

As per the GCC website, ₹13.78 crore was spent to plant 72,660 saplings along the Adyar River from Thiru Vi Ka Bridge to Airport Runway Bridge, and from Airport Runway Bridge to Nandambakkam Bridge (total 12.64 km). Similarly, 49,800 saplings were planted along the Cooum River from the Napier Bridge to Maduravoyal Bypass Road (total 11.3 km) at a cost of ₹7.13 crore. TNIE visited a few spots on both these stretches to take stock of the grassrootslevel initiative.