In a historic step to protect Chennai’s last living natural humid land, Chennai, October 1 (IANS), the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered immediate freeze on all planning permissions and construction approval in the Pallikaryai Marsh and around all the planning permissions and construction approval.
The order of the tribunal, recently distributed, directs each major agency – including the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), State Environment Department, and Tamil Nadu State Wetland Authority – Marsh Boundaries and Buffer Zone were involved in preventing and stopping the permission to stop the boundaries and bafar zone.
The NGT bench underlined that uncontrolled urbanization had already reduced the Ramsar site by about 6,000 hectares, which spoils the city’s flood vigor. It was also recorded that currently about 50 Stormwater Inlets are directly discharged to Marsh.
The hydrologist stated that Marsh acts as an important flood sink for southern Chennai, which receives water from areas with the Lakes from the upstream lakes in Pallavaram, Kilktatlai and Narayanapuram, as well as the water from areas with Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR).
Experts said that if the government wants to improve the retention of water, it should recover the bio-mining dumpyard within the swamp and deepen it.
A senior environmental worker from Chennai said, “They should study to understand the depth of waste under the surface. It should be excavated and converted into a catchment area.”
Although more than 70 percent of bio-mining of inheritance of 3 million tonnes is done, GCC still dumps about 3,000 tonnes of fresh waste in the site.
GCC Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran said that efforts were going on to remove fresh waste from Marsh.
He said, “We are planning to set up 1,000 tonnes of window composting centers and send 1,500 tonnes of garbage daily to the upcoming waste-to-energy plant in Venkatamangalam. About eight lakh tonnes of waste has been bio-khanan in the last three years,” he said.
Environment Secretary Supriya Sahu said that the boundary walls spread up to eight km, allowing natural water flow, have already been built to protect the demarcate and swamp.
He said, “A dedicated monitoring committee has been formed to implement the NGT order, and aggressive water hyacinth is being cleaned to increase storage capacity,” he said.
Environmentalists stated that the order is a “last chance” for Chennai to restore its important wetlands and demanded strict enforcement against illegal encroachments.
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Aal/DPB