This time, they have opted to aerially spray the entire river bed with Round Up - a chemical from a private company, Monsanto, so that the hyacinth withers away. A decision to this effect was taken at a joint meeting convened by the cantonment board.

An earlier attempt by the cantonment board to manually spray the river bed with this chemical failed to produce results. They had used a boat in the operation which ran into rough weather. Firstly, the boat was unable to manoeuvre in the hyacinth. Secondly, the workers would forget the portions they had sprayed.

The cantonment board had then shrugged off the entire exercise on the pretext that the chemical was too expensive and would produce results only for a limited period.

This time however, all the three bodies are determined make things work. CEO Ajay Kumar claimed that the extent of hyacinth had considerably reduced on its own. However, they had decided to aerially spray the 20 km expanse of the river bed with this chemical with the help of either a small plane or a helicopter. The entire exercise will cost Rs 12 lakh. The PCMC Health Officer Dr Nag Kumar however, made it clear that the money would be paid to the company only on the completion of the exercise and the success of the effort. Ajay Kumar will send a written proposal to the remaining civic bodies for for a formal approval after which work is expected to begin. This time, the CEO was confident of success.