CHENNAI: The southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Tamil Nadu government to justify its decision to hand over the 118 acres of land retrieved from the Madras Race Club to the department of horticulture and plantation crops for forming gardens and green spaces, instead of turning the entire plot into a waterbody. It raised concerns over whether the land could instead be used for groundwater recharge and monsoon flood mitigation in the Velachery region, which faces severe inundation every year.
The NGT bench, comprising judicial member Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member K Satyagopal, has posted the matter for hearing on July 15, asking the government to furnish detailed information about the original and current extent of the Velachery Lake, its existing water holding capacity and how much this would improve under the proposed restoration measures. The Greater Chennai Corporation has created four ponds in the land with a combined holding capacity of 4.70 Mcft.
In a detailed affidavit filed before the tribunal, K Manivasan, additional chief secretary of the water resources department (WRD) said the government was taking several measures for rejuvenation and capacity enhancement of the Velachery Lake.
The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority has proposed the work of ‘Renovation of Velachery Lake’ at a cost of Rs 23.50 crore, under the lake front development scheme by which the capacity of the lake will be increased by 22%. Besides, the proposed desilting of 2.47 lakh cubic metres of the lake will enhance its water holding capacity to 8.70 Mcft.
Meanwhile, as long-term measures, a detailed project report for deepening of the tanks around the Velachery Lake like Adambakkam tank, Madippakkam tank, Kilkattalai tank, Moovarasampettai tank, Narayanapuram tank and Pallikaranai tank is also being prepared by the WRD as part of the flood mitigation master plan, said Manivasan.
On encroachments, Manivasan said a biometric survey was conducted by the revenue department and Greater Chennai Corporation with the coordination of the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board and WRD. As per the survey, a total of 1,016 encroachments were identified and steps are being taken to carry out the evictions as per law, he added.