Ambattur eco-park ready but waits for shutdown to end

Chennai

The Ambattur Lake is spread over 400 acres and the total cost for the project was Rs 13.90 crore. The department had cleaned garbage and water hyacinth from the waterbody before desilting. They also removed more than 100 encroachments from near the lake.

“The restoration work started three years ago and it was funded by the Environment and Forest Department. It was completed over three phases. After a long delay, we completed the restoration work in March. But haven’t opened it yet as it would attract crowd during the lockdown,” said a senior WRD official.

After reviving the lake, the department installed outdoor fitness equipment, created a walking track for the public, built a fence to avoid dumping of garbage and planted saplings. The lake will be maintained by the Corporation.

The official added that the lake was filled with garbage and polluted with sewage from the residential area earlier but, after the restoration, the quality has improved. Also, as part of the restoration work, storm water drains in the area have been connected to the water body so that the rain water flows into the lake.

However, the public is not happy with this initiative because there won’t be any increase in its storage capacity.

“There are so many parks in the locality, they could have installed all these outdoor gyms and play area for children in other parks, instead of doing it here,” said Ganesh R, a resident of Ambattur.