Residents of the city can soon get a closer look of the Pallikaranai marsh once the forest department completes work on a walkers’ path around it.
The department is constructing a 100-metre-long pathway, on a trial basis, around the wetland, which is home to over a hundred species of birds and small animals, and blessed with unique vegetation.
The work has been taken up as part of the forest department’s eco-restoration project. Workers hired by a contractor are creating the walkers’ pathway on the western boundary of the wetland that lies parallel to Velachery Main Road.
“Our plan is to educate people about the diversity of the wetland. A pathway will bring people closer to it and help in conservation efforts,” an officer of the department said.
The officer added that once the trial was completed, the department would study its impact and, if it was declared a success, they might take it forward. The long-term plan is to obtain the State’s government approval to create a pathway surrounding the entire wetland, which has an expanse of 650 hectares. This pathway would cover nearly 25 kilometres, officials said.
Recent improvement works taken up as part of the eco-restoration project for the marshland include creation of check-posts and watch towers to prevent poaching and pollution, desilting of the Okkiyam ‘maduvu’, and a complete makeover of the southernmost part of the wetland between Perumbakkam and Sholinganallur, officials said.
