CHENNAI: With Metrowater looking to draw water from the Porur lake for drinking water supply, locals and activists came together on Sunday in an attempt to understand the downhill journey of what was once a 400-acre lake and to reclaim what is left of it.
“When the Arappor team audited the Porur lake, we found that not only was there open defecation, trucks and autos were being washed there. That’s the water that is now to be used for drinking,” said Harris Sulthan, State body member of the organisation.
Organised by Arappor Iyakkam, a Chennai-based citizens’ group, the gathering put forth 10 demands that included well-defined boundaries to prevent encroachments, to free the channel that links Porur and Chembarambakkam lakes of encroachments and the restoration of the lake’s surplus canal.
According to members of the group, the lake also had advertisement hoardings and was filled with construction debris from the flyover.
“We had earlier contacted Tiruvallur Collector to bring the Porur lake under the Kudimaramathu scheme. We were assured that necessary action would be taken, but we did not hear from the authorities again,” said Harris.
The Kudimaramathu scheme was revived by Chief Minister ‘Edappadi’ K Palaniswami in March with an allocation of `100 crore to take up 1,519 works in 30 districts.
“Although Kudimaramathu was seen as a welcome move, we visited Kancheepuram where six water bodies were brought under the scheme, but work had begun only in one. However, in a matter of 18 days, the allocated `100 crores was reportedly spent.” alleged Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of the movement. He also criticised the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Act that did not mandate effluents to be treated before being released into water bodies.
The organisation also urged residents to participate in a peaceful protest if the authorities continued to turn a deaf ear to their request.