Now, government department encroaches on Korattur lake

CHENNAI: Earlier, private individuals used to encroach upon the Korattur lake. Now, a government department has done the same, with Civil Supplies CID using a portion of the waterbody to park seized vehicles.
“People already encroach the lake by forming illegal layouts inside the waterbody. They also try to sell these plots. Even before this has been sorted, another form of encroachment is taking place,” said S Sekharan, founder of Korattur Aeri Padhukappu Makkal Iyakkam.He has said Civil Supplies CID brought a few seized vehicles and parked them inside the lake.
Sekharan had already sent complaints to the Water Resources Department regarding this illegal parking. Activists say more people will try to encroach on the waterbody because of this. They say the lake’s water spread area has slowly been shrinking, and these kinds of violations will further reduce its spread.
When contacted, a senior WRD official said, “We have spoken to the Civil Supplies CID police. They said they parked the vehicles on the lakebed temporarily as some repair work was happening at their office. They have assured that these vehicles would be removed soon,” the official said.
Activists complained that encroachments on a waterbody often start in a small way and slowly become a big issue. WRD authorities should take necessary action to shift the parking of vehicles from the lake to other places, they said.