Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Peerkankaranai lake crying for attention

By K. Lakshmi

CHENNAI Sept. 13. Residents living around the Peerkankaranai Lake have been trying to save the water body from being overrun by solid waste and sewage.

The campaign for desilting water bodies may be intensifying on the one hand, but the local body and government agencies have done little to conserve the lake, the residents complain.

A visit to the area showed that the lake was covered with bushes and choked with debris including domestic and non-biodegradable plastic waste. Foul stench and smoke that emanated from the lake revealed the pollution caused to it due to burning of refuse and release of drainage water.

One of the residents, K. Premkumar, lamented that the lake had shrunk in size and its water retention capacity had also reduced drastically, thanks to steady dumping of debris and the broken sluice.

A resident of K.K.Nagar near the lake, S.V.Subramaniam, said the lake got filled with debris collected from hotels and neighbouring areas. Moreover, the sewage of the neighbourhood was being released into the lake and posed a serious health hazard.

The residents claim that tanker lorries reportedly owned by the local body could be found discharging sewage into the lake every alternate day. They also pointed out to the lack of a proper sewerage system in the area, due to which some of the residents including those of Kamaraj Nagar were allowed to release their sewage by the local panchayat into the water body.

T. Mallika, who lives on the street adjacent the lake, said due to the choking effect on the lake, the surrounding areas such as K.K.Nagar and Sriram Nagar suffered decrease in groundwater level and even contamination of water in the wells.

With the lake unusable and groundwater level depleted, most of the residents in areas such as Devanesan Nagar depend on packaged water. M. Rukmini of K.K.Nagar whose well has been contaminated for about two months said, "I spend about Rs.600 per month on drinking water and several representations to authorities to rectify the problem have been ignored".

The residents also feared that the lake would soon be usurped by encroachers who have occupied the poramboke land near the water body.

However, the local body representatives denied charges about permission given to residents for discharge of sewage and release of waste through lorries.

They said the debris collected from Peerkankaranai was being taken to Perungudi dumping yard and measures had been taken to ensure better drainage system.

One of the panchayat officials said, the panchayat had not received complaints about the dumping of debris by commercial organisations so far and action would be taken when the charges against those who dumped refuse into the lake.

Steps were being taken to remove encroachments and desilt the lake as per the directive of the Government along with the installation of rainwater harvesting systems in the area, he said.

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