Date:04/10/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/10/04/stories/2004100403180300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Forum demands protected area status for Pallikaranai marshland

By P. Oppili

Save Pallikaranai Marshland Forum members observing a fast near Velachery MRTS station in Chennai on Saturday. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI, OCT. 3. Demanding the immediate declaration of the Pallikaranai marshland as a protected area, the Save Pallikaranai Marshland Forum (SPMF) staged a fast on Saturday near the Velachery-Madipakkam Road junction.

It also charged Metrowater with releasing 32 million litres of raw and untreated sewage every day from its Perungudi Pumping Station into the marshland, which polluted the groundwater table in nearby residential areas.

The Forum had organised human chain protest in September last year in which residents from Madipakkam and surrounding areas had taken part.

Order withdrawn

In February last year, the then Collector of Kancheepuram, classified the area as `Reserved Land' under Section 26 of the State Forest Conservation Act. But, later it was withdrawn stating that in the earlier order the survey numbers had been wrongly mentioned.

Following the human chain protest, a team from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, headed by V.S. Vijayan, visited the Pallikaranai area on October 22.

In his recommendation to the Ministry, Dr. Vijayan said the garbage dumping and sewage release into the marshland had to be stopped immediately.

The forum also called on the Chennai Corporation and the Alandur Municipality to stop dumping non-segregated garbage, which was being burnt, resulting in release of the hazardous gas, dioxin, which led to health problems for people living in the nearby Mylai Balaji Nagar.

The Forum asked the Chennai Corporation to relocate the dumping yard to an abandoned quarry.

Already the district administration had allocated space for Alandur municipality to dump garbage; hence the existing dumping yard on Tambaram-Velachery Main Road had to be shifted.

The forum demanded that the existing canal be cleaned and dredged to facilitate the draining of flood waters from residential areas to the marshland; the constitution of a `Wetland Authority' for identifying and protecting all water bodies in the State, strict implementation of source segregation in the city and its suburbs to control garbage pollution and supply of protected drinking water supply to the residents of Mylai Balaji Nagar.

Despite the Central team giving its recommendations, no action had been taken so far to protect the marshland, the members said.