CHENNAI: A private realtor is allegedly constructing a road across the Perumbakkam marshland.
Tonnes of construction materials and soil were dumped inside the waterbody, while heavy machinery is deployed to fill the area. According to residents, the road construction commenced a few days ago and already about 100m of road has been laid.
The Perumbakkam marshland is contiguous to the recently declared Pallikaranai Ramsar Site and such arbitrary filling of waterbody can lead to fragmentation of the entire Pallikaranai wetland ecosystem, said Deepak Srivastava, member secretary of Tamil Nadu State Wetland Authority.
Sources in the forest department told TNIE, the area was inspected by the forest range officer and the disputed area does not belong to the forest department. “On enquiry, residents said the land belongs to a private builder, who was trying to level the area by filling the earth during night hours. No one was there during a site inspection. One excavator was parked without a driver. When asked for survey numbers and ownership documents, the project site in charge refused to share them,” a senior forest official said.
Deepak Srivastava told TNIE, he would send his team on Friday for a site inspection to ascertain whether the disputed area falls within the Ramsar Site. “Even if it falls outside it, such constructions cannot be allowed considering the challenges the city is facing in terms of water security and flooding. I will again write to all the government departments concerned to strictly comply with Wetland Rules, 2017,” he said.
A Seethalakshmi, a local resident and a birder, said a lot of resident and migratory birds visit the marshland. “Threatened species like Eurasian Spoonbill, Painted Stork and Grey Pelicans are regular visitors, while migratory birds like Yellow Wagtail and Blue-Tailed Bee-eater are spotted.” Chennai is among India’s most ‘climate’ vulnerable districts, according to a vulnerability assessment done by Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
This first-of-its-kind district-level assessment has ranked Chennai seventh in the list of districts prone to extreme floods and cyclones. The study report titled ‘Mapping India’s Climate Vulnerability’ also ranks states based on the climate vulnerability index (CVI) score.