The Times of India         25.01.2011

CHENNAI: In an unexpected turn of events, the Chennai Corporation
has decided to put on hold the proposal for boat rides and other
tourist facilities on the Velachery lake, one of the few water bodies
still alive in the city. The reason it has cited is the high level of
contamination of the water.

“The water is totally contaminated
and not conducive for boating. At present, stormwater drain works are in
progress near the lake, which we hope will put an end to illegal
discharge of sewage from residential areas. It could be dangerous for
children to go on a boat ride on the contaminated waterbody,”
corporation commissioner D Karthikeyan told TOI.

The ambitious
programme of the corporation was conceived three years ago. The local
body had even engaged a consultant, shortlisted by experts from Anna
University, Public Works Department
and the agriculture department. The consultant gave a detailed plan in
October last on how to beautify the lake. This included removal of
encroachments in Gandhi Nagar and Ambedkar Nagar, fencing of the entire
waterbody, provision of three decks for walking, viewing and fishing and
a boating jetty. The consultant also suggested plantation of African
grass, reed and bamboo along the middle deck and flowering plants and
trees like bottlebrush, bougainvillea, royal palms and areca nut betel
palms along the upper deck.

Poor upkeep of the lake has been a
subject of discussion for years now, as locals vent their anger against
government agencies. “It is sheer neglect on part of the government that
has led to the degradation of the lake. It breached at six places a few
years ago due to poor maintenance. Plenty of representations were made
to the departments concerned to maintain the lake, but in vain,” said A
Ramasamy of Federation of Velachery Welfare Associations and a resident
of Lakshmi Hayagriva Nagar.

Had the lake been properly
maintained, it could have been a major source of drinking water. The
rapid pace of real estate development in the last two decades resulted
in the shrinking of the waterbody from 265 acres to 55 acres now. The
government allocated 53 acres to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board and 34
acres to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board for housing development.
The encroachers on Erikkarai Street in Gandhi Nagar, who don’t have
sewage connections, are contributing to the pollution of the lake,
locals said.

There are about 2,000 families living in the
southern bund. Even though some have toilets in the backyard, they
conveniently direct the pipelines to the lake, causing extensive damage
to the waterbody. The government’s efforts to relocate the encroachers
has not yielded satisfactory results. Corporation officials said they
were trying to convince encroachers to get sewer connections by paying a
nominal fee of Rs 100. “That is the least we can do,” said a senior
official.