CHENNAI: The illegal construction of a commercial building inside the Pulicat bird sanctuary continues right under the nose of Tiruvallur forest and district revenue authorities.
TNIE had reported about the illegality in April this year and the work was stopped subsequently by the forest department, which also wrote to the Tiruvallur district collector to cancel the patta. However, in the last few weeks, the work had resumed clandestinely.
Exterior paint work was carried out, shutters were installed and a fresh load of red bricks was unloaded at the site. All this after the forest department had stopped the work.
The building is being built on the ecologically sensitive salt pans of Pulicat bird sanctuary. The Ponneri revenue officials have allegedly issued a patta document for 2.45 ha of land inside the sanctuary area. The area in question falls in survey no: 55, which was classified as coastal poramboke land in the revenue records till 2021, when it was divided into two subdivisions. The area in 55/1 is still a poramboke land, however, patta was given to 55/2.
This is happening in the middle of the northeast monsoon and when the rains peak, the place will be filled with water since it's a flood channel. There were no other constructions in the survey number.
Chief Wildlife Warden Srinivas R Reddy told TNIE he would immediately look into the matter and stop the work. He said he had already written to the collector to cancel the patta issued.
Except for traditional fishermen, who obtained patta before 1980 when Pulicat bird sanctuary was notified, no one is permitted to build anything, especially commercial property, inside the sanctuary area without obtaining permission from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). The project should be appraised at the district level, then by the State Board for Wildlife and finally by NBWL. None of this was followed in the present case, the authorities clarified.
K Saravanan, fishermen leader and an expert in coastal zone mapping, who visited the site on Saturday said the authorities must demolish the building since it was a clear case of violation.
In 2015, the Madras High Court in its order dismissed a petition from Kolathur residents and called them encroachers even though they were given pattas on reclassified land in Kolathur lake. The Supreme Court as well as Madras HC have time and again held that no encroachment should be tolerated over the water bodies which constitute part of the natural resources.