COIMBATORE: Farmers and activists working on rejuvenation of waterbodies expressed concern as gravel is being excavated in large amount from the recently restored Chinnavedampatti lake and used in the construction of the western ring road.
They said taking gravel soil from the water body will weaken the lake and result in depletion of ground water.
According to officers from the water resources department, the district administration has given permission to take up to 50,000 cubic metre of gravel soil from the lake, for use in the road project, for three months. But the contractor has excavated around 20,000 cubic meter gravel sand in the last three weeks.
Up to 40 trucks are being operated round the clock to move soil from the lake, which is an artificial waterbody created in 200 acres in 1984 to store rainwater in order to improve groundwater in Coimbatore North taluk.
“The lake did not get water after 1992 due to destruction of inlet channels. For the last one decade, volunteers have been working for restoration of the water by creating Chinnavedampatti Lake Protection Committee. Following the work by the volunteers, the lake received a copious flow of water during the monsoon in 2023. Taking out such large amount of gravel soil from the lake will ruin the works carried out so far,” said a conservationist.
S Palanisamy, president of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam said, “Digging the lake to take the large volume of gravel soil from the catchment area will destroy the surface layer of the lake soil and affect percolation of water into the ground. We do not know how much the contractor has paid to the government to take the gravel for the purpose. It should be stopped immediately.”
V Ramamoorthy, CCMC councillor for ward 12, where the lake is located, said, “Alluvial soil should be allowed to be taken from any waterbody only to a considerable extent. Hundreds of truckloads of gravel soil are moved from the lake. When we objected to the work, the tahsildar and other officials showed us an order issued by the mines department.”
An engineer from the WRD said, “As per the order by the Collector and AD of the geology and mines department, soil is allowed to be taken. There is no violation.”
When contacted, collector Pavankumar G Giriyappanavar said, “I will look into the matter. I will direct the Assistant Director of the Mines Department to review the situation at the place immediately.”