CHENNAI: As the monsoon is approaching, residents of Adambakkam live in fear of flooding with the Public Works Department failing to restore the heavily encroached Adambakkam lake. Encroachments over the last two decades have reduced what was once an 86-acre lake with water fit for domestic consumption into a 30-foot- wide urban sewage canal layered with hyacinths.
The Federations of Adambakkam Welfare Associations (FAWA) and Thillai Ganga Nagar Residents Welfare Association took the issue of encroachments affecting the water retention of the lake with the PWD five months ago but the assurances of action have remained verbal.
“The officials have taken no measures and keep blaming it on lack of funds,” said M Sriram, a member of TGNRWA.
Way back in 2015 after a survey, the PWD marked the tenements as an encroachment of public space and labelled the Adambakkam Lake ‘104/1 - an eri poramboke’. Consequently an estimate of `1.42 crore was drawn to restore the lake. However, lack of funds made sure that the eviction/de-silting process did not see the light of day.
When Express contacted S Muttiah, PWD executive engineer of Kancheepuram in September this year, he said the PWD had adopted a ‘revenue model’ to restore the Adambakkam lake.
“The soil excavated will be sold to finance the restoration of the lake,” he said. But this model too has not been implemented just like the assurance of fresh notices to the encroachers on the lake.
The complacency of the PWD has forced residents to rally behind the local MLA, T M Anbarasan for a temporary solution. The MLA assured residents to bankroll a de-silting operation from the MLA funds before the onset of the monsoon. The MLA also agreed to approach Sriperumbudur MP R.S Bharathi to offer financial support.
“I can contribute `30 lakh to `40 lakh from MLA fund for de-silting but that will not do any good in the long run,” Anbarasan told Express.
“Around 80-85 families were evicted between 2006 and 2011 with the help of the PWD, Revenue Department and District Collector but they have come back again,” he said.
“The Adambakkam lake is a misnomer,” said Augustine David, president of the FAWA “Encroachers have reduced it into a canal and if they aren’t pushed out, residents who live in approved housing areas will be affected,” he said.
The FAWA which has been actively fighting for eviction of the encroachers had planned to give an aesthetic makeover to the lake with the support of the MLA funds once the PWD had removed the encroachments and de-silted the lake. With the PWD continuing to be in a mood of complacency, the beautification of the lake will have to wait.
