CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu revenue department on Thursday removed all the encroachments alongside the Putheri Lake and cancelled the pattas of people who claimed ownership of the lake bed.
This comes days after a report in The New Indian Express highlighting that the lake restoration work was disrupted for about 10 days after a group of individuals claimed ownership of the lake bed.
The group had also set up poles and underground pipes, and produced documents, obtained allegedly by illegal means, which said that they owned more than 2000 square feet of land on the lake.
However, after the report, the revenue department surveyed the lake immediately and confirmed that the area claimed by the individuals indeed is part of the lake and ordered the municipality to remove all the encroachments and resume restoration, officials told The New Indian Express.
It is learnt that the Chengalpet Collector took cognisance of this and discussed the encroachments on the lake with revenue authorities.
Following this, the municipality removed the encroachments and began the restoration work on Thursday. The local body began removing the mud in the encroached part to expand the lake.
In December 2020, a group of miscreants had dumped several loads of garbage overnight, which engulfed the lake completely.
Since then, the municipality has been working on restoring the lake by removing the garbage. While this was going on, several persons had thronged the spot claiming ownership of part of the lake and told the municipality not to restore it.
Activist David Manohar of Arappor Iyakkam, who was one of the complainants in the garbage dumping issue, said the municipality has left the place after revenue officials went there. "It must be ensured that the restoration work happens at a fast pace," he said.