POLL, LOCKDOWN CITED FOR DELAY
Govt gets 2 months to clear Chitlapakkam lake squatters
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai:08.07.2021
Take steps to evict 403 parties encroaching the Chitlapakkam lake, the Madras high court has told the Tamil Nadu government.
“The state should take appropriate action in accordance with law under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Tanks and Eviction of Encroachment Act, 2007, upon due notice to the perceived encroachers,” the first bench of chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said on Wednesday.
The issue pertains to a public interest writ petition filed by anti-corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam to remove encroachments on the Chitlapakkam lake from the Tambaram and Pallavaram side, along with putting an end to discharge of sewage into the lake.
When the plea came up for hearing, government advocate P Muthukumar submitted that effective steps to remove the encroachers could not be taken due to the assembly election and the lockdown.
Recording the same, the bench said, “Now that the election is over and the restrictions imposed under the lockdown following the second wave have been eased, the state should take appropriate action.” The court then adjourned the hearing to September 8, for the state to file a compliance report.
On April 8, the state informed the court that the 403 encroachments were found on 83.89 acres of the water body classified as ‘Eri’ (tank). Of the 403, 374 are by way of house sites. It was further added that notices had been issued to the encroachers under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Tank and Eviction of Encroachments Rules, 2007.
According to the petitioner, it wanted to protect the Chitlapakkam lake spread over101.4 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment