The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Moovarasampet Lake now a garbage dump

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 28, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Moovarasampet Lake now a garbage dump

K. Manikandan

Panchayat doing little to protect the water resource, say residents

CRYING FOR ATTENTION: The Moovarasampet lake is fast shrinking in spread as the local body is dumping garbage in the water body. — Photo: K. Manikandan

TAMBARAM: Another lake in Chennai's southern suburbs faces the threat of extinction due to continuous dumping of garbage by the local body and lack of support from the government department.

Sandwiched between Medavakkam Main Road and Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road, the Moovarasampet Lake, spread over 100 acres, serves as a source of groundwater in the Pallavaram Municipality, Madipakkam and Moovarsampettai panchayats.

For more than two years, civic workers of the village panchayat have been dumping garbage in the lake.

What was once a small heap has now become a mound. Residents of Moovarampettai charged the village panchayat authorities and its elected representatives with taking little steps to put an end to the menace.

They wondered how the Kancheepuram district administration and other government departments could remain silent over the issue.

Over six tonnes of garbage is generated in the village panchayat, which has a population of more than 13,000. It has five tricycles and a couple of bullock carts to collect garbage from different areas.

Residents said the quality and taste of water from wells near the lake had dipped sharply.

Panchayat members said they were at the mercy of bigger local bodies for using their dump yards. Attempts were initiated a couple of years ago to implement solid waste management practices. Sheds to convert garbage into manure were built.

However, they have not served their purpose as they too are now surrounded by garbage. Such a problem is not restricted only to Moovarasampettai, a part of the St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union, but is faced by all rural and urban local bodies.

`Wake up to problems'

Activists said the State Government should wake up to the problems relating to garbage disposal.

Welcoming efforts such as the integrated, modern and scientific compost yard at Venkatamangalam, they said similar facilities should be provided for all local bodies in order to protect water bodies and ensure hygiene and sanitation in the fast-growing southern suburbs of the city.

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