Chennai: Once a vital waterbody, Thangal Lake at Korattur has become a symbol of civic neglect with indiscriminate dumping of garbage and sewage contamination. Residents say the poor maintenance and unchecked dumping poses health and environmental risks. The waterbody, spread over 11 acres with a capacity of about 300 million litres, has been encroached upon by residential buildings. A decade ago, volunteers cleared the vegetation and cleaned the waterbody, but within a few months, it returned to its earlier state due to a lack of maintenance by the civic body. “The sluice gates were damaged and garbage was dumped over them. Construction of residential buildings is underway on encroached land near the lake. Locals continue to dump waste into the lake despite multiple warnings. And the waterbody is filled with overgrown vegetation,” said R Sridhar, president of the Britannia Nagar welfare association.Earlier, the lake was a source of drinking water, but disposal of untreated sewage has contaminated the groundwater. “We spend 4,000 every month on tanker lorries for drinking water. We wrote to CM Cell, the Corporation and water resources department, but there has been no response,” said V Vairamuthu, joint secretary of the association.While there are plans to convert the lake into an eco-park, civic activists urged the local body to restore and maintain the lake as a waterbody rather than repurposing it for tourism activities. “We welcome initiatives to turn lakes into community hubs, but departments often fail to maintain them, and visitors do not take responsibility for cleanliness. It is better to preserve the lake in its natural form and ensure maintenance,” said C Raghukumar, a civic activist from North Chennai.A senior official of Madhavaram zone said, “WRD is expected to take up the restoration work. Even though we requested a NOC to restore and maintain the water body, there has been no response.” WRD officials were unavailable for comment, despite multiple attempts by TOI to reach out.
