Chennai
“For many years, the public have been dumping garbage around Red Hills lake. Hence, to put an end to the menace and also to protect the drinking water source, it was decided to fence the vacant space around the lake by planting saplings. It was initiated by the Collector and was done along with the State Highways Department,” said a senior official of WRD.
The official also added that the vacant space along the reservoir near Alamaram bus stop had become a spot for the public to throw their waste in the absence of a dump yard in the neighbouring local bodies.
About 100 saplings of native species were planted around the lake’s circumference extending to 30 kilometres, including neem, bakula tree (magizham tree) portia tree (puvarasu maram), and samanea saman (thungumoonji maram). This was done with the support of Saranalayam Trust that provided saplings to the department.
The official said that there were many volunteers who came forward to plant saplings, and they are looking forward to NGOs who can assist the government in this regard. “The place where saplings have been planted would be maintained by the trust and other volunteers from the neighbourhood,” said the official.
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