Chennai, Feb 28: ”The Porur lake is now considered as an ardent place to dump the waste and the situation is getting out of hand. It should be controlled immediately and people who throw the garbage into the lake should be fined,” the National Green Tribunal Southern Zone ordered recently.
After examining the poor condition of the lake, the authorities have also asked the local body officials to submit a report about the condition of this lake. They also ordered them to take necessary action against those who are involved in this irresponsible act.
The NGOs and other social activists welcome this move and have asked the authorities of National Green Tribunal to have a follow up on this case and help maintaining the Porur lake clean and green.
”On every weekend, several NGOs and other volunteers are involved in cleaning the Porur lake and the surrounding areas. They have also cleaned the thorny bushes and expelled tonnes of garbage from this lake. But the place remains grimy and people continue to throw plastics into the lake,” says Senthil, a social activist in Porur.
Rohit, a volunteer from a local NGO says, ”I have indulged in cleaning Porur Lake every weekend. It is a painstaking job to clear all the dumps and it is unsafe too. So far, we have removed tonnes of waste. Sometimes, even the corporation vehicle wont be enough to carry such a huge bunch of plastic waste. Being one of the major water resources for a metro city, the lake is maintained badly and the irresponsible act of citizens is the top reason for this.”
”The order given by the authorities of Green Tribunal is somewhat creating a ray of hope among the NGO volunteers like us. Because, no matter how hard we work on the ground to keep our surroundings clean. It is the residents responsibility to maintain the same. However, more than the residents, people even travel from far, carrying their bags of garbage and throw them here. These are heart-wrenching to see.” Rohit adds.
”The local body officials should appoint full-time security to safeguard the Lake along with proper fencing and gates. After late evening hours, men use this as their spot to consume alcohol which in turn makes this a place for crime activities too. These types of acts should be stopped immediately.” says social activist Senthil.
He further says, ”The government should look into this issue and take necessary actions immediately. Apart from restricting the people to dump waste, the officials should also allocate budget to maintain the Lake neat and clean. Several volunteers donate saplings to the Lake. But over a period of time, they go lifeless because of the low maintenance. Hence, these should be taken care of by the officials.”