Green activists overjoyed by Madras High Court's blanket ban on marshland

Chennai: Green activists and bird watchers in Chennai are enthralled over the recent announcement of Madras High Court directing the Inspector General of registration to issue circulars to all the registrars in the State not to register any document relating to Pallikaranai Marshland or any other marshland.

This interim order is great news for the bird lovers like me spread across south India. Birds from all over India and other countries throng the wetlands in Tamil Nadu during monsoon and this order will help the wetlands to restore their lost biodiversity and will also protect the marshland from habitat destruction, said Mr K.V.R.K. Thirunaranan, founder, The Nature Trust.

Pallikaranai was once a sprawling marshland and home to more than 90 species of birds and a dozen varieties of fresh water fish, but the wetland has shrunk by more than 50 per cent due to urbanisation and a total ban on registration of properties in the protected areas and its buffer zones will help southern Chennai to breathe easy and will certainly improve the ground water aquifer, he added.

Responding to the issue activist and a local fisherman I.H. Sekar, who had filed petitions with the National Green Tribunal and Madras High Court seeking solution for the shrinking Pallikaranai said that the inland fishermen were the worst affected due to construction activities.

Based on the revenue records, Sekar has filed two cases in the Southern Branch of NGT and one case at the Madras High Court moving the courts to declare about 250 acres in Injambakkam, Karapakkam and Shollinganallur as part of the Pallikarnai marsh.