CHENNAI: Dismissing the allegation that a portion of Porur lake was handed over to private parties as wrong, the Public Works Department (PWD) on Thursday submitted before the Southern Bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) that the ongoing work pertained to the construction of a bund.
The patch of land near the lake, the department added, belonged to the private party for decades together.
PWD chief engineer V Shanmugam made the submission when the matter came up for hearing before the second bench comprising Judicial Member P Jothimani and Expert Member R Nagendran.
Charging the applicant with making unnecessary hue and cry based on incorrect news reports, PWD counsel Saleem said, “The formation of bund to any tank has no adverse ecological impact, and likewise, it is imminent in order to demarcate the boundary of the lake as it is abutting a national highway and patta lands. It may be recorded that no road in the lake is being formed or any lake filling activities have been done except for securing and demarcating the lake.”
On July 16, the petitioner V Meghanathan approached the NGT alleging that the Water Resources Department, a wing of the PWD responsible for water bodies, was continuing filling up a part of the lake, claiming it belonged to a private land.