Thiruvananthapuram: NHAI starts removing bund across Veli-Akkulam lake

Thiruvananthapuram: The National Highway Authority of India has started removing the bund across the Veli-Akkulam lake to restore the lake system to its original form following a report published in Deccan Chronicle.

The decision to remove the bund was taken after Thomas Lawrence, a native of Thiruvananthapuram settled in Louis Missouri, US, forwarded a complaint to Union minister for surface transport Nitin Gadkari along with the report by Rakesh Nair published in these columns on March 25.

Construction of the bridge was completed a few months back but the bund remained intact, reducing the separation of the Veli-Akkulam lake system of 1142 feet to mere 12 feet. The report pointed out that the bund cut the lake in to two causing grave danger to the entire ecosystem. This area is a known for spawning and as a breeding ground for aquatic species.

A grab of the report that was published on DC

Mr Lawrence forwarded the DC report to the district collector, minister for water resources Mathew T. Thomas and the chairman of the NHAI but none chose to respond till Tuesday. He then mailed the complaint to Mr Gadkari along with the DC report.

Within four hours he got a reply from the project director of NHAI informing him that they have started the work removing the bund and restoring the lake system in to its original form. The photograph of the work was also enclosed with the mail.