'Don't want eco park, just save Peerkankaranai Lake', urge locals

CHENNAI: Located between Perungalathur and Tambaram, Peerkankaranai Lake, one of the biggest waterbodies in the southern suburbs of Chennai, has shrunk from its massive 163 acres to a meagre 23 hectares, due to encroachments in the name of development and infrastructure, which also led to garbage pile-up and sewage stagnation.

An eye-sore for anyone entering the city through Tambaram, in 2018, the Public Works Department (PWD) had announced an elaborate plan for restoring the waterbody into an eco park with a boating facility, play area and walk-ways.

Fast forward to 6 years, the plan and the waterbody have been abandoned. Lack of maintenance has led to the growth of water hyacinth that covers a large part of the lake. If proper restoration methods are not implemented quickly, residents fear that Perungalathur would soon become a dry area.

When the plan to build an eco park was announced, the Tambaram municipality at the time said that boating would be one of the features that would attract a lot of people to the waterbody. And, it also had the potential to turn Peerkankaranai Lake into a major tourist attraction – much like the Chetpet Lake.

The PWD had completed more than 50% of the work to remove the encroachments, which made villagers of Perungalathur, Peerkankaranai and Irumbuliyur happy. However, COVID hit, and a change in the government, and the lake was forgotten.

Even now, if the State government did not take any steps to stop the encroachment and save the lake, Perungalathur will soon become an arid village without a drop of water since their only source of water is shrinking, activists fume.

“People buy gold and diamonds as an investment but they don’t know the value of water. Soon, it would become more scarce and valuable than gold if the lakes are abandoned by the government,” warned Mahendra Boopathi, president, Perungalathur Welfare Association.

While the residents are now against the idea of an eco park in Perungalathur, they demanded the government to save what’s left of the lake for the future generations.

Being the gateway to Chennai, the population in Perungalathur is increasing rapidly every year. Ten years ago, it was less than 50,000 but now it has increased to nearly two lakh. As people from many places have started to settle in Perungalathur, the demand for water has also shot up.

“When Perungalathur was upgraded to a Corporation, we thought that it would become developed like the city. But the reverse happened, and even our lakes have not been cleaned for several years. We don’t want an eco park now; we just need the officers to save our lake and provide us with an adequate water supply,” averred S Dinesh, a resident of Perungalathur.

Much like the Peerkankaranai Lake, the Perungalathur Lake has also been abandoned for the last 10 years. “Even after many requests, officers have not visited for an inspection or taken any steps to clean the lakes,” said one of the villagers.

When contacted, a PWD official said: “The eco park plan is still on but it could not proceed further due to encroachments. We’ve asked the Revenue department to clear them. Once that’s done, the work towards restoration would start. Soon, the lake will be cleaned with the help of an NGO.”