Chennai: Residents of Moovarasampet want the bunds of the lake strengthened and fenced before the monsoon starts.
GP Babu, secretary, Moovarasampet Residents Welfare Association, says, “around the beginning of this year, the district Collector ordered the Public Works Department (PWD) to strengthen the bunds of the waterbody, and level the lake bed in order to rejuvenate the same. The PWD officials, who dug up the lake, last month, deepened it, by digging out loads and loads of sand. Now the lake is 40 feet deep.”
He also rued, “A drainage canal that starts in Pallavaram has been channelised to Moovarasampet lake and it should be stopped. It was ordered by the government, long ago, that the untreated sewage water should not be let into the lake and it should be properly treated before doing the same.”
He added, “Isn’t it risky to have a deep lake in a residential area? People who walk on the bund or animals that roam here might slip and fall into the lake. To avoid such mishaps, we want the PWD to put up fence around the lake, strengthen the bund, and level the lake bed, so that the residents of the surrounding locality will be highly benefited.”
The residents also opined that it would be a great help, if the Corporation cleans the surrounding area, repair the gate of the lake and reconstruct the walls around it, as people pollute it and use it as a place for anti-social activities.
Efforts to reach the officials failed.