Chennai: The southern bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) was appalled and expressed shock after learning that Public Works Department (PWD) is building a bund cutting across Porur lake, one of the few surviving water bodies and a source of drinking water to several parts of the city.
The green tribunal asked what the government is doing and directly charged the PWD with trying to favor Ramachandra Medical College, which claims ownership of 17 acres of Porur Lake watershed area.
Mr V. Meganathan, a city-based advocate, moved the NGT on Friday seeking stay on works being carried out by the PWD officials at Porur lake. The court immediately admitted the application and wasted no time before issuing interim injunction.
“Stop all the work until further orders. What’s happening is totally unacceptable. Filling the portion of lake with earth to build a bund across Porur Lake, a fresh water body, to separate the lake from so called private land is unjustified”, the second bench, comprising Justice P. Jyothimani and R. Nagendran said. The court also took cognisance of media reports and the consequent public outcry over the issue in the past few days.
