The Deccan Chronicle 21.01.2010

Dump yard or Pallavaram lake?

Jan. 20: Despite the state government’s drive to remove encroachments on lakes in the city and its suburban areas, the Pallavaram municipality has been dumping garbage on Royapettah lake, also known as Pallavaram Periya eri, and destroying its water resources. The 216-acre lake has already been reduced to less than 100 acres by continued encroachment and garbage dumping by the municipality.

In a day, around 85 to 100 tonnes of garbage generated in the 42 wards of the municipality are dumped in the lake which attracts a large variety of migratory birds.

A resident said the lake was once the main source of water for irrigating agricultural land in and around Pallavaram. The residents said many encroachments had come up on the lake after the laying of the Pallavaram–Thoraipakkam radial road, which bisects the lake into two water bodies.

A councillor, on condition of anonymity, said the municipality has been dumping garbage in spite of a Madras high court order restraining it from doing so. The court also directed the civic body to remove all encroachments on the lake and put up a fence on the bank.

The councillor said the court order was not implemented by the municipality even though it amounts to contempt of court. He also said if the dumping of waste in the lakebed was not stopped immediately, the water body would disappear in a couple of years.

However, a municipality official said the government has come up with a comprehensive solid waste management plan for Pallavaram, Alandur and Tambaram municipalities.