CHENNAI: The land on which the Rajamangalam police station board stands is half-submerged in a ‘pond’. When Express queried the Village Administrative Officer (in-charge) of Korattur, under whose jurisdiction Thathankuppam falls, he said the area is marked as ‘grama natham’ as per revenue records.
‘Grama natham’ means a land that is nobody’s property, but not a waterbody and permission may be granted for construction of residential buildings.
Elango, one of the members of a family staking claim to the ‘land’, candidly said they wanted to build houses on the ‘land’. But old-timers recalled that the Thathankuppam pond had remained for ages. It was once the sole drinking water source for the agricultural community of Thathankuppam, which existed before the burgeoning Chennai city covered this area too. “There were very less people here in 60s and 70s. It was a common property and we kept it clean. Now a police station is going to come up here,” said L Sankar, a local resident.
But the Police Housing Corporation officials said they were already looking at an alternative site since there were others claiming that the same ‘land’ had been allotted to them. Elango said his reason for the litigation to claim the ‘land’ was to save the waterbody from the police. However, he also said that if the land was split among his family members, they would probably build houses there, just as the other residents feared.
While the Thathankuppam pond is not a marked waterbody, it is a waterbody, nonetheless, and locals claim it has a depth of 10 feet. When Express visited the pond, it found cranes in the pond and no water hyacinth, indicating it is a thriving ecosystem.
“The pond maintains the groundwater level; so we don’t have to buy water during the summer,” said S Raju, son of the late president of the Sastha Nagar Residents Association. When Express contacted the Revenue Divisional Officer of Ambattur, Aravinthan, he said that if the Thathankuppam lake was found in reality, he would intervene in the issue.