PWD’s 43 hectare lake in Avadi shrunk to eight acres as realtors make merry

C Shivakumar
Chennai:

A 43 hectare Palaeripattu lake in Avadi has been shrunk to five to
eight acres in the last 10 years with bulldozers being used to level
the water spread area.



The irony is that despite knowing it is a water body the realtors have
been encroaching the land blatantly and officials have been turning a
blind eye to a series of petitions, says RTI activist and Satta
Panchayat district coordinator M Mohammed Ilyas.



When Express visited the site, it was found that four people were in
discussion to take over the remanants of the lake. They were shocked
to see the Express photographer there and rushed out immediately after
quizzing him.



A Public Works Department official said Palaeripattu Lake, which is
one of the 10 lakes in the Poonamallee lake, that has been encroached
upon has yet to be demarcated.



Interestingly, PWD is the keeper of the water body. “The boundary has
to be demarcated by revenue department,” he said when queried about
the encroachment of the lake.



Interestingly, the encroachment of the lake was bought to the notice
of officials by Ilyas. A top government official immediately sought
action on Friday when it was brought to his notice that people have
prepared a layout on the lake and are selling it to people.



“We immediately took action and cleared of encroachments in 30 cents.
We can’t remove the structures as it would result in law and order
problem,” said the tahsildar of the region.



To a query on why the authorities failed to initiate action when three
petitions were submitted earlier, the Tahsildar said that this was
brought to her notice only now.



“We will initiate action against the encroachments. We will be issuing
notices to the residents to submit their objections within 15 days
following which Form 6 will be issued,” she said.



The PWD official said that PWD would later enumerate the encroachers
once Form 6 is issued to evict the people by Tahsildar.



Interestingly, the official says that 10 water bodies in the
Poonamallee taluka has been encroached upon and efforts are on the
clear the encroachments.



“Currently, action is being taken to clear of encroachments in one of
the water body. We are holding regular meetings to clear
encroachements,” he said.



“But the issue is why it takes too long for the government to wake up
and protect is property. Why aren’t the properties being fenced? And
why no action has been taken against all those officials who are hand
in glove in the whole episode,” Ilyas said.



“Atleast they have to wake up and protect whatever is remaining now
before initiating action against the encroachers. They are not even
fencing the lake. How will they protect it,” he wondered