he sprawling Perungudi Lake is getting a complete makeover with heavy machinery engaged in removing bushes, and bunds being strengthened after several years.
The lake, located on the Information Technology (IT) corridor near Rajiv Gandhi Salai here, had been in a poor state with wild bushes threatening to invade the entire area with people using it as a cover to defecate.
Moreover, waste water was being let into the lake. One of the few protected lakes in the city, the work would help in recharging the water table of the locality. But residents fear that the desilting work is done with a motive to help a private builder for constructing residential villas.
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The lake, is being cleaned by K.P. Kandan, Sholinganallur MLA. Mr. Kandan said that with the rainy season approaching and a large number of people using the lake as a public toilet, the lake would to be cleaned using his ‘own’ funds.
“The lake has not been cleaned for several years and so wild bushes had grown,” he said.
While the residents are happy that the civic authorities are giving attention to the lake by clearing bushes and deepening it, they are concerned about the intention of taking up this welfare work. An office-bearer of Kurinji Kamaraj Residents’ Welfare Association said the debris removed from the lake is proposed to be dumped on the southern side of the lake for widening the road to help give access to a residential property coming up. The widening of the road would result in a number of trees getting chopped, he added.
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However, Mr. Kandan denied that there was any proposal to remove the debris from the lake to widen the road. Sources in the WRD said the lake did not get any inflow from other waterbodies unlike many other lakes in south Chennai. It gets filled only with rainfall in catchment areas.
The lake has not been cleaned for several years and so wild bushes have invaded it