Pallavaram lake filled with garbage, encroachments

Chennai: Encroachments, invasive plants, and massive garbage dumps have taken over nearly 90% of the southern side of Pallavaram Periya Eri. More than 50,000 tonnes of legacy waste lies uncleared despite a national green tribunal (NGT) order issued in 2021.Once a fresh water lake, it is now surrounded by at least 500 encroachments, including along its inlet and outlet points. Both these channels are heavily choked with plastic waste and garbage, regularly dumped into canals that connect the lake to Putheri Lake and other waterbodies along the Pallavaram–Thoraipakkam radial road.
The lake receives water from three major inlet channels from the Tirusulam hills, Thiruneermalai via Moongil Eri, and Veeraraghavan lake via Chromepet. These canals, once nearly 80 ft wide, narrowed to just 5-10 ft due to encroachments, severely affecting water flow.Residents of the locality filed a case with NGT in 2020 and in 2021. The tribunal passed an order directing Tambaram Corporation to remove encroachments and bio-mine the legacy waste. However, even after five years, the waste has not been cleared fully. When TOI visited the locality on Saturday, we found that more than 10 families had encroached the water body. David Manohar, a resident-activist from Pallavaram, said,"When restoration plans are announced, these families will eventually be evicted. The corporation must identify alternative housing instead of making them live inside the lake." He also said,"The bio-mining project began in 2020 but is now abandoned. Heavy machinery is lying unused, and garbage is scattered everywhere." M Gandhi, president of the Pallavaram residents' welfare association, said restoration efforts would fail unless sewage inflow into the lake is completely stopped. "Although the lake is handed over to the WRD, there is no visible restoration work," he said.He also said, "Illegal sewer connections and sewage discharge from tanker lorries continue to pollute the lake. Several commercial buildings and residential apartments along the Pallavaram–Thoraipakkam radial road are letting untreated sewage directly into the waterbody."Despite repeated attempts, WRD officials were unavailable for comment. Responding to concerns over the stalled bio-mining project, Tambaram Corporation commissioner S Balachander said that a budget of 2.3 crore was allocated to bio-mine the remaining legacy waste and that tenders would be floated soon.