Ecological restoration of the Otteri lake located inside the Arignar Anna Zoological Park (AAZP), Vandalur, was initiated at the launch of Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission on Monday to mark the World Environment Day.
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Forests Minister M. Mathiventhan inaugurated the Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission, under which 100 wetlands have been identified to be mapped and ecologically restored.
The Otteri lake is spread over 16 acres with a storage capacity of 2.22 million cubic feet. The area around the lake attracts 12 species of birds. “The objective of the ecological restoration is to increase the water storage capacity so that habitat quality for resident and migratory birds improve along with the biodiversity status of flora and fauna,” the government said in a release.
The mission seeks to engage local communities and NGOs and has roped in 187 iranila nanbargal (friends of wetlands) thus far. As part of restoration work, some activities that will be carried out are selective dredging, strengthening of the bund, removal of invasive species, identifying and mapping the source of pollution.
The mission was launched in the presence of Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises T.M. Anbarasan; Additional Chief Secretary to Departments of Environment, Climate Change and Forests Supriya Sahu; Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Subrat Mohapatra; Chief Wildlife Warden Srinivas R. Reddy; Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Member-Secretary Deepak Srivastava; and Chengalpattu MLA Varalakshmi Madhusudhanan.