CHENNAI: In the past three months, the Water Resource Department (WRD) has removed encroachments from 899 of 1,644 tanks in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Thiruvannamalai districts.
A senior official said 2,519.12 hectares of WRD land was encroached in these five districts. While 68.71 hectares of land has been recovered with the help of revenue officials, 8,492 legal notices have been served on encroachers asking them to vacate the land immediately.
“We have started the process to establish nurseries on these recovered land parcels with the help of forest department,” the officer said. Another senior official said that to evict encroachments from waterbodies, the State government has formed a State-level steering committee and committees at district and divisional levels on February 8 through a government order. According to the order, WRD officers will be members of the committees, and the bodies will meet once every month to review completed works and decide on the future course of action.
WRD sources said evicting encroachers has been difficult due to political interference. “For example, there are many encroachments in Ullagaram, Arumbakkam and other areas. The issue has been going on for the past few decades. But action has been slow because in some cases, the matter is before courts, and in others there is political interference,” the official said.
