2 days Ago By Padmaja J
Chennai: In another six months, the 50-acre Medavakkam Periya Eri will get a facelift with a 1km-long walkway, 240 lights, 20-25 benches, native plantations and a play area for children. The project costing 1 crore is being funded by CSR funds . As of now, there is a muddy pathway on the bund of the lake with no lighting or CCTV cameras.
Several miscreants dump garbage and use the space for drinking alcohol and doing drugs. The water resources department is looking to develop the lakefront to create a safe and usable community space for residents. "This walkway will discourage more encroachments around the lake," said a WRD official.
An NGO, Thaagam Foundation based in Chetpet, has started work to build the walkway with paver blocks. "The work will be done in two phases because WRD's cut-and-cover drain work is happening at the lake. First we will build the walkway until the area where the drains are being built.
Then, we will resume after drain work is completed," said Raj Bharath, CSR officer from Thaagam Foundation. This lake, despite getting illegal sewage discharge from stormwater drains, has some life, said IIT M environmental engineering professor Indumathi Nambi who studied the lake in a citizen-science initiative in May 2024. They measured the dissolved oxygen level in the lake to be 5.
11mg/L. The minimum dissolved oxygen level for aquatic life to thrive in waterbodies is 4mg/L, according to the Central Pollution Control Board guidelines. The WRD is yet to remove the 204 encroachments from the lake.
"We gave the eviction notice seven months ago and would remove them soon," said an official. These encroachments not only included hutments but also restaurants that illegally discharged their sewage. Arjun Shankar, a local activist, said, "The lakefront project is a welcome move.
But two other lakes in the area are dying with sewage and garbage choking them - Kalleri and Chinna Eri. WRD must restore them too." In May, he spearheaded a campaign where 1,000 residents sent postcards to the state chief secretary to restore Periya Eri, Chinna Eri, and Kalleri.
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