Chennai: Socially-active residents of Lakshmipuram in Chrompet, have formed a group called Veeraraghavan Lake Protection Committee, with the motto of cleaning the waterbody.
Headed by V Santhanam, a social activist, the members organised a meeting last week, with more than 350 persons attending it.
After discussion, the volunteers decided to file a petition with the concerned authorities, to clean the lake and arrest the flow of sewage that is being let in.
“Following this, a petition was given to the Pallavaram Municipality and the Thiruneermalai Panchayat, requesting to prevent the contamination of the lake,” said Santhanam.
“The officials stated that they will forward this issue to higher authorities, as they were short of funds. Also, many Municipality officials were unavailable as they were deployed in Kanchipuram to manage the crowds at Athi Varadar temple,” he added.
“We are ready to clean the bunds, pick up the garbage thrown in-and-around the waters. But, only the government can rejuvenate the lake, put up a fence, and bring in other facilities like pavements,” opined Santhanam.
According to him, the civic body has set up a budget of Rs 12 crore, for the clean-up. “We have informed them that if this activity is not completed before 15 August, we, the members of the committee, will stage a protest to express our dissatisfaction,” he concluded.