CHENNAI: Chetpet Ecopark, which is one-of-its-kind nature park in the heart of the city offering recreational facilities like angling, has got a facelift. Developed at a cost of Rs 42 crore, the ecopark began to lose popularity with the pond becoming dry due to monsoon failure and visitors count dropping to 5,500 in June, making it financially unsustainable.
However, Tamil Nadu Fisheries Development Corporation, which manages the ecopark, has desilted the lake and executed developmental works like bund strengthening. Director of Fisheries G Sameeran told Express that desilting has helped the park regain its glory.
“In June, there wasn’t a drop of water in the bigger boating pond, literally exposing the parched bed. Now, after desilting, groundwater table is replenished and there is four feet of water thanks to the recent downpour. More than one feet of silt and mud was removed from an area of 3.66 acre, out of total water area of 6.10 acre. A total of 4,500 cubic metres of silt was dredged and the same was used for bund strengthening,” he said.
To a query, he acknowledged there was a problem of illegal sewage being let out into the lake through stormwater drains earlier, but now the problem has been rectified. The in-house wastewater is also being treated with the help 50,000 KLD Sewage Treatment Plant.
A park official said the visitors have started patronising the ecopark again. As per official records, between April 19 to May 19, 17,000 people, including 4,615 children, visited the park, fetching a revenue of Rs 3,54,725. In July, the revenue dropped to Rs 1,21,635 with barely 5,500 people visiting. However, in August, after desilting, the visitors count jumped to 16,000 generating a revenue of Rs 3,38,140.
The ecopark is a paradise for walkers and nature lovers. Initially, the site was used as a brick field and was later converted into a water body. During 1934, the Chetpet lake was handed over to Department of Fisheries for development activities.
In 1947, Inland Research Station was started to carry out research in inland fisheries culture. Since 1952, Gambusia fish variety was introduced to control mosquitoes. Tilapia, a fish variety meant for sport fishing was predominant in this lake. In order to promote sport fishing “Madras Anglers Club” was started in 1962.
It was former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who announced the establishment of Sports Fishing-cum-Ecopark at Chetpet Lake at a cost of Rs 42 crore and inaugurated it in 2016. The ecopark also has other attractions like aquarium and virtual reality and augmented reality show.