Adyar Creek’s gain is Foreshore Estate’s loss in this green move that seems to have gone terribly wrong.
The Public Works Department is now dumping construction debris, ordered to be removed by the National Green Tribunal from the Adyar Creek estuary, in Foreshore Estate, on the beach near Srinivasapuram.
Truckloads of debris from the creek is now being dumped on the beach to level it so that the Ganesha idols could be immersed, said a contractor, who has been given the licence to clear the debris from the estuary.
When a senior PWD official was contacted by Express, he said admitted to having ordered the clearance of the debris, but was unaware that it was being dumped on the beach.
“We will look into the issue and ensure the debris is removed from the beach,” a senior PWD official said.
Noted environmentalist Nityanand Jayaram said this alleged illegality is perpetuated every year in the name of god. “Coastal Regulation Zone notification does not exempt divine forces from dumping on the beach,” he said.
The environmentalist said there is a need to educate the police, public works department and Chennai Corporation on coastal regulation zone management.
K Saravanan of Urur Kuppam, on whose petition the Green Tribunal passed the interim order directing the Department of Environment and the Public Works Department to stop dumping construction debris from Adyar estuary, said that PWD is again dumping debris on the beach.
“How could they dump debris on the beach again when the Green Tribunal has ordered it to be removed,” he asked.
Saravanan said the road construction began in January, 2012, by the Public Works Department allegedly for opening a sand bar in the Adyar river estuary. The road fell within the high tide line and was being laid nearly up to the river mouth, barely a metre away from the hatchery for Olive Ridley turtles. He said the Green Tribunal ordered the removal of all the debris dumped to create the dirt road within a period of three months from the order delivered on August 7.