Earth excavated from lake used to widen radial road

Both the Pallavaram Periya Eri and Keelkattalai situated 5 km apart on the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road but share similar problems: encroachment, depleting groundwater table and dumping of untreated sewage and garbage. 

Initiated by the Pallavaram Municipality under Tamil Nadu Sustainable Urban Development Project (TNSUDP), strengthening of bunds is under way at both the Pallavaram Periya Eri and the Keelkattalai lake, which was spread across the Radial Road. However, the environmentalist alleged that the earth excavated from the lakes were used for the widening of the Radial road. 

“In the name of tank de-silting, earth excavated from the Pallavaram and Keelkattalai tanks are being used to encroach the waterbodies to expand the 200ft “Radial road.” The channels designed to carry surplus waters from the two tanks have already been encroached and blocked in several places. Pallavaram and Keelkattalai’s already compromised water storage area has further shrunk. Heavy rains will leave these areas severely inundated. Why does the Tamil Nadu government hate water?,” wrote environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman in his facebook post. 

The HD has taken up widening the stretch of Thoraipakkam Radial Road from Pallavaram to Keelkattalai at a cost of Rs 35 crore. The existing four lanes would be expanded to six with service lanes and help in reducing traffic snarls on the road. “Both the lake desilting work and the highway widening contract was given to the same contractor who is using the earth excavated from the lakes for the road work. After the objection raised by the activists, the contractor stopped using the earth for the road work for some time and now again started using it illegally,” said V Subramanian of Sabari Green Foundation. 

A senior HD official said that the road widening is being carried out after getting all the necessary permission. “There was no illegality in using the earth excavated from the lake for the road widening work,” the official said.