Floating in the dark: Chetpet lake in need of lights

The Tamil Nadu Fisheries Development Corporation Limited (TNFDC) recently turned Chetpet lake and its premises into an eco park at an estimated cost of Rs 42 crore, but it does not seem to have installed basic infrastructural requirements, such as adequate lighting.

Visitors taking boat rides on the lake, which is spread over an area of about 15 acres, have been demanding that highmast lamps be positioned in the middle of it or lamp-posts erected around it as it gets very dark after dusk. Vigneswaran, (21), a college student, who got off the boat at 7.15 pm, said that the boat was floating along in virtual darkness, the light from the lamps installed on land being unable to cover the entire stretch of the lake. 

Chetpet lake cum eco park, inaugurated in February 2016, has had a good response from the public, with its facilities for boating, a seafood court and walking track. 

About 300-400 visitors a day seek out the boat rides alone, with a score of boats floating in the dark even after 7.30 pm even as others get ready at the jetty to board the boats once they have emptied. There is no light reaching them as they head out into the lake and people fear that this could lead to an untoward incident. 

S Vijayasekar, Joint Director, Fire and Rescue Services, Northern Region, Chennai, pointed out that boat rides should take place only between dawn and dusk, and the time limit should not be flouted. 

He said that it was “necessary for a lake, converted into an eco park, to have lamps along the surroundings of the lake so that the staff in-charge can keep a tab on the boats and rectify any faults immediately.” 

A TNFDC official said that they had received such feedback and added, “Measures to erect lamps around the lake are in place and one will soon be able to see the brightness of the lake.” Boating was going on well beyond dusk because they were receiving a large number of visitors, he added, but they would soon be fixing timings for this.