Velachery was once a village that possessed numerous water bodies and a sprawling lake.
While the size of the lake has shrunk owing to encroachments, the few remaining water bodies can be saved only through government intervention, residents say.
Two such water bodies in Velachery, belonging to the Revenue Department and the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), are badly-maintained, full of wild growth with sewerage being let in unchecked.
S. Indra, a resident of Nattar Street where the pond maintained by the revenue department is located, complains that the pond, a source of rain water and that recharged ground water table in the locality, remains completely neglected.
The residents use the pond for dumping garbage and construction debris and it also has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, she said.
The water body on Brahmin Street – Bajanai Koil Street junction which is maintained by the Metrowater has a compound wall around it to prevent encroachments. But, here again there sewage is being discharged into the pond rendering it useless, residents charged.
