NGT tells TN to survey Retteri lake for encroachments

CHENNAI: The Southern Bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Chennai Collector, commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and Water Resource Department (WRD) to survey the Retteri lake to identify unauthorised encroachments.

Justice K Ramakrishnan and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati further directed the WRD to provide protective mechanism like bio-fencing, plantation and any other scientific techniques to strengthen bunds and repair the weirs and sluices provided to regulate the inflow and outflow of the water to the lake. The department is to also ensure desilting of in-lets and outlets of the water body.

Meanwhile, GCC has been directed to implement the Solid, Liquid and other Waste Management Rules, 2016. Besides removing the waste from the water body, GCC has also been directed to provide CCTV cameras to identify those violating rules and impose compensation for the same.

The Tribunal also directed the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) to complete the underground sewage board and avoid discharge of untreated sewage into the water body, to protect it from encroachment and pollution.

CMWSSB has been asked to register the tanker lorries collecting sewage with GPS, so that the movement can be tracked from the place of collection till discharge. This will avoid decanting of sewage into water bodies or public drains, which ultimately reaches the lake, noted the Tribunal.

The Tribunal also observed that Madhavaram Retteri Lake, originally of 700 acres, has reduced due to non-maintenance.