Keelkattalai lake is under encroachment, alleges Arappor Iyakkam

CHENNAI: Arappor Iyakkam, an anti-graft organization, urged Chegalpattu district collector to prevent encroachment of Keelkattalai Lake on the sides of Thoraipakkam - Pallavaram Radial Road.

"In about 2018-20, the land grabbers had encroached a portion of the lake. The Pallavaram Municipality officials aided this encroachment by marking boundaries for encroachment. We also hear that many of the encroachers are having Patta for the encroached lands giving an impression that the Municipality was hand-in-glove with the encroachers, " Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of the organisation alleged in his petition to district collector.

He added that based on the collector's instruction in 2021, a joint inspection was conducted by the Revenue Department, the Public Works Department (PWD), and the Tambaram Corporation and boundaries for the water body were marked.

"However the concrete structures earmarking the encroached boundary were not removed by the Tambaram Corporation. Again, after raising this issue with you, in 2022, the Tambaram Corporation had removed all the boundary stones after your instructions. However, the PWD had not removed the soil cover/landmass nor desilted the lake leading to furtherance of encroachment, " the petition said.

He noted that one of the encroachers is erecting compound walls over the lake to protect his encroached area. The PWD has for now stopped the construction.

He urged the district collector to stop encroachment at once and take action against officials who collided with encroachers.

David Manohar, another activist said that construction of compound wall was stopped two days ago but the works resumed on Sunday.