Waste segregation unit on lake razed after Madras HC censure – Times of India

CHENNAI: In a victory for residents’ campaign and petitions by activists, the garbage dump yard and segregation unit on the banks of the Chitlapakkam lake is being cleared following orders from the Madras high court.
Earlier this month, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu slammed the state government for failing to clear Chitlapakkam lake of squatters, following which the government on September 22 informed the high court that the constructions put up by institutional bodies and government agencies in the form of solid waste management yard, incinerators and office buildings have been directed to be removed.
Chitlapakkam town panchayat authorities confirmed to ToI that they have begun clearing the segregation yard as per the directions from Chengelpet district collector.
Residents of the neighbourhood campaigned against the segregation unit stating that it was built and operated without NOC from TNPCB. The water body saw a reprieve owing to consistent efforts from residents’ associations over several years- both physical and virtual by filing petitions in courts and by creating awareness through social media campaigns. A portion of the lake was used as a garbage dump for decades by the public and the local body for decades and there were several encroachments.
“Even now the waste used to be collected in the segregation unit in the lake itself and then taken to a landfill,” a resident said.
Residents of the town panchayat in city outskirts consistently complain that the local body authorities had not cleared the waste from the waste segregation unit on the banks of the lake, leading to piling up of the waste, which overflows onto the motorable road.
“ The infrastructure was constructed without proper permissions. Even the Solid Waste Management (SWM) act states that waste management facilities should not be within 200 metres of a water body,” said Sunil Jayaraman, a member of Chitlapakkam Rising.