Clean lake near temple before monsoon, urge Thaiyur locals

Thaiyur village panchayat, which consists of 12 wards with 40,000 residents, comes under the Tiruporur panchayat union. Of the 50 villages that form the panchayat union, this village panchayat is the fastest growing suburb.

According to the villagers, the lake spread across an acre is one of the main water sources for them until 20 years ago. However, it was not maintained properly in the recent years, eventually being reduced as a dumping yard. Now, alleged local residents, waste from chicken stalls and fish and vegetable markets are being dumped in the lake.

“Sometimes, even sewage is also being let out into it,” said Ganesan, one of the villagers. For the hundreds of devotees from across the State who visit the 15-year-old Sithi Vinayagar temple, the lake has become an eyesore, he added.

The villagers alleged that the village panchayat failed to take any steps to clean the lake even after repeated requests. R Karthikeyan from Thaiyur village said, “For many years, we are giving request letters to the panchayat to clean the lake. But they would not give us any proper response. If this continues even after this, the village will face huge water scarcity next year,” he said.

When contacted, the village panchayat secretary R Babu said they were planning to clean the lake with the help of NGOs. “The villagers should also support us by not dumping the garbage in the lake,” he added.