The Hindu : Front Page : Restoration eluding Pallikaranai marsh

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Monday, Apr 13, 2009
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Restoration eluding Pallikaranai marsh

P.Oppili

— Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

Time to Act: Restoration cannot begin before boundaries are demarcated.

CHENNAI: Naturalists and environmentalists are concerned at the delay in restoration of Pallikaranai marshland, particularly the time taken for demarcation of the boundaries.

State Forest Department sources said that in 2007 a substantial portion of the marsh was declared as a Reserve Forest.

Following this they had requested the Revenue Department to demarcate the boundaries.

However, the Revenue Department is yet to do so. Without demarcating the boundaries, it would be difficult to take up any work there, said the sources.

A senior officer of the Department said much of the marsh is still with the Chennai Corporation.

The Corporation should hand over the northern portion, which is highly polluted, from where the restoration work has to start, the officer said.

Summer is the right time to assess the scope of nature of restoration, according to researchers.

Before the end of this summer, the Revenue Department should demarcate the boundaries and the Corporation should hand over the northern portion to take up restoration, they added.

Sometime ago, the Madras High Court had appointed a high-level Committee to address the issue of dumping municipal solid waste on the marsh by the Corporation. With the intervention of the committee, burning of garbage was stopped at the Perungudi dump yard. Naturalists and environmentalist hailed this effort as the right step towards protection.

Various measures mentioned for mitigating the flood problem also remain a non-starter, sources in the Forest Department said, calling for immediate action.

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