The first bench of the Madras High Court on Monday directed the authorities concerned to remove the encroachments on the water bodies in nearby Melmaruvathur/Keelmaruvathur and file a report in this connection in a month.

The bench of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy gave the direction while passing further interim orders on a PIL petition from one R Raja of Sothupakkam, today.

Raja had alleged Keelmaruvathur lake and an abutting pond, which were once used by farmers for irrigation, had disappeared in the last seven years due to encroachments in the forms of houses, shops, pay-and-use toilets and parking lots. After repeated complaints to the revenue officials about encroachers polluting the groundwater by discharging sewage that went unattended, he moved the court in 2018.

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