1 week Ago By Omjasvin M D
Chennai: The 10.45acre Putheri Lake, which is part of a chain of lakes along 200-feet Radial Road, will soon be restored to ensure that neighbourhoods in Old Pallavaram areas do not flood during monsoons. Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority ( CMDA ) has floated tenders to restore the lake at a cost of 3.
4 crore. In 2021, the Tamil Nadu govt assured the National Green Tribunal that the waterbody would be renovated but work is being taken up only now. A CMDA official said the project includes desilting, strengthening bunds, removing water hyacinth and improving inlet and outlet structures to enhance water flow.
"The lake used to froth due to sewage and hyacinth. The bunds were also encroached by abandoned cars and cars brought in for repairs. These will be removed, and the lake will be fenced to ensure trespassers do not enter," said the official.
Putheri is the second in a chain of lakes after Pallavaram Periya Eri . The lake gets constant sewage from the Periya Eri and its boundaries are not demarcated. It was polluted with solid waste dumped by the erstwhile Pallavaram Municipality; however, this reduced after the locality came under the jurisdiction of Tambaram Corporation.
David Manohar, a civic activist from Pallavaram, said the NGT case lasted for about six hearings, and the govt body kept adding more respondents such as TWAD Board and Metrowater, delaying restoration for four years now. "For restoration to be holistic, they have to arrest sewage in the Periya Eri. There are 30 pucca houses inside the lake.
All encroachments, including those backed by local politicians, need to be removed immediately," he said. CMDA will create an entry to the bunds for people to walk, while CCTV cameras will be installed to monitor trespassers. Arun Krishnamurthy of Environmentalist Foundation of India, a waterbody restoration NGO, said Putheri lake does not have legal boundaries.
"The lake is there on both sides of the Radial Road and its boundaries have to be marked. The inflow and outflow have to be regulated. The channel between Pallavaram and Putheri too must be mapped and restored," he said, adding that the lake has to be restored ecologically, hydrologically and legally.
.
