Chennai: The government has ordered the formation of the Tamilnadu Marshland Commission to protect the fast vanishing marshlands of the State.
According to reports, the State boasts of 9.02.534 hectares of marshland. There are 24,648 big marshland and 18,294 small marshland, totalling 42,978 marshlands in Tamilnadu.
These waterbodies, that constitute 6.92 per cent of the total land mass of the State, have various uses. They are used for irrigation, drinking water needs, fishing, recharging groundwater, flood mitigation, promoting tourism and reducing carbon dioxide in the air.
But they are being destroyed by encroachments, sand quarrying, vanishing forests, presence of factories and other reasons.
In order to save these disappearing marshlands, the government has come up with the Marshland Commission that is formed under the rules of the Central law on marshlands passed in 2017.
The commission will be headed by the Forest Minister and the Chief Secretary will be the deputy commissioner. Totally, there will be 14 members and five experts in the commission. The commission would enumerate the number of marshlands and execute plans for their preservation and rejuvenation.