Encroachments gobble up 30 acres of Nemilicherry lake, reveals RTI petition

In response to the right to information petition filed by social activist and advocate R Ramdas of Bharathipuram, the WRD has informed that the original size of the lake was 43.79 acres extending from Nemilicherry to Hasthinapuram. It said that 13.31 hectares of the lake stands at the Nemilicherry village and the other 4.41 hectare at Hasthinapuram.

To another query, the assistant executive engineer of WRD, Lower Palar Basin Sub Division, has replied that no fund has been allocated by the government for rejuvenation work of the lake in the past 10 years. Further, it is mentioned that the cleaning works in the progress is undertaken with the assistance of the Nemilicherry Welfare Association.

The advocate, Ramdas, said, “The area of the waterbody was drastically reduced to mere 13 acres now. Also, there is no association which operates under the above-mentioned name. It is the invention of the department. The Federation of Residents of Pallavaram had spent the money for the desilting of the lake.”

However, the members of the Federation of the Pallavaram Residents are reluctant to raise the question regarding encroachments as the works are at the verge of completion.

The WRD resumed the rejuvenation work last month after a brief lull. The authorities claimed that the works were abruptly halted after the permission granted by the Department of Mines expired towards theend of August.

Last June, the federation undertook desilting works at an estimated cost of Rs 10 lakh. The members along with few volunteers sought the assistance of the government departments for dumping the waste excavated from the lakebed. Subsequently, the department took over the works after receiving permission from the Department of Mines.

A senior official from the PWD, said, “All the waterbodies in the city has been encroached over the time and lost their original shapes. Removing of encroachments involve a lengthy process for which requires instructions from the government.”