'Operation encroachments' to retrieve storm water canals in

A senior official in Puducherry today expressed concern over encroachments of the centuries- old storm water broad canals in different parts of the Union Territory leading to overflow of the rain water inundating the low lying areas in the wake of current torrential rains.
Chief Secretary Manoj Paridal said the French regime had constructed the canals in an imaginative manner and the canals traversed through different areas carrying storm water to drain the water into the sea ultimately.
As long as these canals were free from encroachments water inundation had never occurred in Puducherry, he said.
On encroachments of the canals, the official said "during my tenure in the administration, I will retrieve the canals as it is a matter of concern that the encroachments had been choking the flow of water and inundating the areas in their vicinity".