Govt: Notices issued to evict 403 encroachers from Chitlapakkam lake

Govt: Notices issued to evict 403 encroachers from Chitlapakkam lake

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:09.04.2021

At least 403 encroachments have been identified in Chitlapakkam lake and action has been initiated to remove them, Tamil Nadu government has informed Madras high court.

These encroachments were found on 83.89 acres of the water body classified as ‘Eri’ (tank). Out of 403, at least 374 are house sites, government pleader V Jayaprakash Narayanan said on Thursday.

He further added that notices have been issued to the encroachers under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Tank and Eviction of Encroachments Rules, 2007.

The state made the submissions on a plea moved by NGO Arappor Iyakkam to remove encroachments in the Chitlapakkam lake from the Tambaram and Pallavaram side, along with discharge of sewage into the lake.

Recording the submissions, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy adjourned the plea to eight weeks for the state to file a status report.

In February last, the bench expressed dissatisfaction over the government’s response to encroachments on water bodies.

The court observed that cities would die if water bodies were killed and flats were getting flooded because they are choked. “There is a complete lack of intention on the part of the state to protect water bodies. We would like to see earthmoving machines being deployed to remove such encroachment in water bodies so that it sends a clear message to others to restrain from resorting to such encroachment,” the court said.

The petitioner-organisation said it wanted to protect the Chitlapakkam lake, spread over 101.4 acres, by forming an earth bund around the lake along with a pathway by removing the encroachments.

It had also sought to restrain the officials from converting the lake and its adjoining areas into a park, landfill or garbage dump and subsequently connect the lake with the lakes at Selaiyur and Sembakkam.

The state made the submissions on a plea moved by Arappor Iyakkam, an NGO, to remove encroachments from Chitlapakkam lake from the Tambaram and Pallavaram side