chennai crores of rupees have been sunk into restoring the cooum with large portions fenced and hundreds of families evicted from along its banks but indiscriminate dumping of vehicle scrap continues unabated especially in and around pudupetbroken windshields foam seat covers and other types of debris can be spotted along the banks and on link road connecting ethiraj salai and dams road while the fencing done by greater chennai corporation is broken in some places activists and experts say a multipronged approach including strict action and creating awareness about the importance of riverbeds can bring about a changethe gcc claims it has cleared garbage from along the banks and penalised 5000 individuals and establishments for littering but the dumping continues strict action is the only solution when it comes to wetland restoration there is complete disdain for law people think no one will penalize them it has been made into a dead river by human action people should learn to connect to natural resources in an urban environment understand how it functions and how to maintain it said jayashree vencatesan managing trustee care eartha corporation official said crores of rupees were spent on resettling close to 2000 families along the south west and east cooum bank roads and anju kudisai locality though shops have been cleared from these stretches people continue to tinker vehicles on the road and some dump the scrapthe gcc is installing cctv cameras along the banks to stop dumping and integrate it with the main command room with the help of registration numbers vehicles dumping waste will be tracked and violators nabbed with police assistance he saidg sundararajan of poovulagin nanbargal said any disturbance in the riverbed flood plains can lead to a catastrophe awareness should be created among stakeholders about the dangers of damaging the ecosystema wrd official said it is illegal to damage the gccbuilt fence our officials will inspect the spot and if the fence is damaged we will request police action