Government mulls new water bodies on unused government lands in Chennai

CHENNAI: State chief secretary N Muruganandam has directed the Chennai district collector to identify the unused land transferred to other government agencies and departments to create new water bodies around Velachery.

In an affidavit to the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), K Manivasan, secretary of the water resources department, said that a meeting was conducted on September 10, in which the environment, climate change, and forest departments informed the chief secretary that creating new water bodies in Guindy National Park is not possible as it may be a hindrance for the wild animals. In the same meeting, instructions for identifying unused government lands were given.

Earlier, the NGT suggested the creation of a new water body inside the National Park while addressing flooding issues related to Velachery Lake. In response, the chief secretary also directed the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) to explore possibilities to increase the capacity of Velachery lake by 50 percent of its present stage instead of 22 percent as already proposed.

"As a long time measure, a detailed project report (DPR) for capacity enhancement by deepening of the tanks surrounding the Velachery tank, such as Madipakkam Tank, Kilkattalai Tank, Moovarasampettai Tank, Narayanapuram Tank and Pallikaranai Tank, would be prepared by the Water Resources Department as a part of the Flood Mitigation Master Plan," Manivasan told the Tribunal.

Meanwhile, as a short-term measure, hyacinth, weeds and vegetation in the Velachery Tank, Verangal Odai, Adambakkam Surplus Course and Kilkattalai Surplus Course are cleared and the silt are also removed under 2024 pre-monsoon preparedness work at Rs 95 lakh.

During a hearing on Tuesday, the Tribunal directed the chief secretary to convene an urgent meeting to decide whether approved constructions in the Pallikaranai marshland and Velachery Lake should be relocated to Guindy Race Course land. Suggestions were made to convert the Race Course land into a water body to help mitigate flooding in Velachery.

The Tribunal also highlighted that significant portions of marshland have been occupied by both government and private developments