Compliance status of Mayiladuthurai water bodies encroachment checked

CHENNAI: The Southern Bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) took a case on encroachments of water bodies at Mayiladuthurai district post the judgement stage to ascertain the compliance status for the order given in August 2019.

The bench comprising of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, Justice Sudhir Agarwal, Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert members Satyagopal Korlapati and A Senthil Vel recently took old cases of encroachments on water bodies that need protection measures in the district.

Additionally, calls were made for the protection of 89 tanks of Mayiladuthurai municipality connected to the Cauvery River.

But, despite the directions from the Madras High Court in 1997 for de-silting and setting up of underground drainage systems, no such measures were taken by the State departments.

Subsequently, the Tribunal in 2019 appointed two committees to deal with the issue of encroachments and de-silting. The Tribunal after the 2019 judgement, monitored the compliance status for three years to check the status of drainage systems set up by the municipality and compliance of waste management rules.

Additionally, Mayiladuthurai municipality was slapped with Rs 9 lakh environmental compensation in 2019.

Taking all the facts into consideration, the Tribunal recently disposed of the case noting that several steps have been taken by the district administration to remove encroachments for the protection of water bodies and manage waste. Also, the Tribunal noted that relevant measures are being taken and no grievances survive in the case.