MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Monday sought responses from the Union and State governments on a PIL petition seeking implementation of the Sponge City Construction concept to tackle flood and drought in the State.
The litigant, KK Ramesh of Madurai, submitted that in 1997, there were over 39,000 tanks (waterbodies) in Tamil Nadu, and about 150 of them were in Chennai. The litigant suggested implementation of the Sponge City Construction concept, which is followed in China, Singapore and others, to solve water woes.
Along with a direction to the government to adopt the model in TN, the litigant sought a direction to remove all encroachments on waterbodies. A Bench comprising Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and P Velmurugan sought responses from the Central and State governments and adjourned the case.