CHENNAI: As part of the Pallavaram lake restoration work, bunds have been formed across the circumference of what is left of the lake even as encroachments remain intact. Residents say that this move will only go towards legitimising encroachments, many of which are two-storeyed buildings.
According to a reply to an RTI response, furnished by Pallavaram municipality in March, around 10 hectares (24.7 acres) of the total 46.16 hectares (114 acres) of the lake’s expanse, was encroached. According to 2007 municipality records, there were 768 encroachments in the Pallavaram lake. The municipality has finished forming bunds only in parts of the lake that are without encroachments.
In August 2018, the municipality reportedly even placed a notice board on the lake stating that without removing existing encroachments, the restoration work will be taken up. After photos of the board were widely circulated, it was taken down.
The restoration of the Pallavaram and Keelkattalai lakes is carried out at a cost of `15 crore. Residents have raised questions on the municipality’s plan. For instance, the Pallavaram lake’s sluice gates open to the compound walls of an apartment and with the 200 feet radial road being widened, there is no visible outlet for the water from the sluice. “Another concern is the inlet canals are being connected to the stormwater drains and is connected to the underground drainage system. How will the lake be fed,” asked a resident on condition of anonymity.
When contacted, a senior official of the Pallavaram Municipality said, “We are constructing a peripheral drain so that sewage would not flow into the lake. Our primary goals are recharging of groundwater and avoiding mixing of sewage. All our restoration work has been in line with this,” the official said.