CHENNAI: Thamaraikeni lake at Sholinganallur that was restored an year ago after efforts by an NGO is allegedly under threat. Locals fear that a police station is being built encroaching a portion of the water spread area of the lake on the IT corridor.
Three weeks ago, the locals noticed temporary sheds along the banks of the lake and came to know that work had started on construction of a police station. Though the residents said this was an encroachment, officials from PWD asserted that a G.O. was passed to use this piece of land for a new building for Semmencherry police station.
Though the lake is one of the largest water bodies in the southern suburbs, it was pushed into oblivion because of incessant garbage dumping and pollution by inflow of sewage. In July 2018, the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI) took up the task of restoring the lake. After two months of removing garbage, debris, plugging sewage outfalls, desilting and strengthening the bunds, the lake was given a new lease of life.
An RTI response sent by PWD to a resident during March 2019 said that the lake is spread across 61.5 hectares or 151.9 acres and that no building was present within the lake boundary at the time. During a visit to the lake by Express, it was apparent that a building is coming up very close to water spread area of the lake.
“Even if it is legal, why cannot the police station be built elsewhere? If buildings are constructed on the banks, all vehicles seized by the police will be parked along the boundary of the lake. People will start dumping plastic waste into the water and history will repeat itself,” said a member of Federation of OMR Resident Associations.
When Express contacted officials from Revenue and PWD, they said a portion of the land near the lake was transferred by the Animal Husbandry department to the Greater Chennai Corporation a few years ago for this purpose. “The space that will be used for the police station is not grassland or wetland. The land has been allocated to the police department long ago but as they did not have funds and so they didn’t start construction. Hence, this is not an encroachment but approved land for this purpose,” said Nirmala D, Tahsildar of Sholinganallur.