Officials act tough on encroachments

The State government has started cracking down on encroachments on the Red Hills reservoir as part of steps to protect one of the most important water resources of the city’s drinking water supply.

The Water Resources Department (WRD), a wing of the Public Works Department launched a massive drive against encroachments along the lake bund on Saturday, when five buildings that had encroached on the bund near Thandalkazhani were demolished by the department.

A few buildings were removed some weeks ago.

Officials said the buildings – including a marriage hall, garage and a motorcycle showroom had encroached on the lake bund for a distance of 500 metres.

“These unauthorised structures were built two decades ago. They obstruct the flow from the ‘toe’ drain that collects and transports seepage from bund and rainwater from top of the bund. This toe drain plays a pivotal role, especially during floods. Such obstacles will eventually weaken the bund,” said an official.

The catchment area of the 136-year-old water body has already shrunk owing to rapid urbanisation around it. To prevent further encroachments, the department has fenced the portions of bund for a distance of seven km.

At present, the reservoir, also called as Puzhal lake has storage of 1,347 million cubic feet (mcft) against the capacity of 3,300 mcft.

There are plans to demarcate the bund’s boundary and also conduct a complete survey of the encroached structures surrounding the lake, the officials added.