Ooty: Tamilnadu Green Movement (TNGM) opposes the proposal by the Ooty municipal administration to convert a wetland bordering the Ooty lake into a parking lot.
S.Jayachandran, joint secretary, TNGM, said that during the monthly council meet at the Ooty municipality recently officials made an announcement about this proposal of creating a parking lot near the central bus stand, which is a wetland located near the fisheries department bordering the Ooty lake on its eastern side.
Such a proposal had surfaced even six months ago when also it was firmly opposed by TNGM. Apparently, municipal officials have not taken such opposition well and are trying to exploit the wetland ecosystem for commercial benefits in the name of creating a parking lot to ease parking related congestion in the town.
It is a well known ecological fact that swamp and marsh lands, which form the wetland ecosystem, play a pivotal role in the hydrology of the Nilgiris. These swamps acts as filters of aquatic pollution, make themselves home to large varieties of aquatic flora and fauna that particularly need wetland ecosystem to thrive and prevent erosion and flooding.
Though most parts of the low-lying areas in Ooty were swamps in the past, over the years they had been converted into agriculture lands and sites for construction. This particular wetland
is the major drain for the Ooty lake, Jayachandran explained.
This particular patch of wetland is one of the last remaining swamps within town limits. It is one of its kind in existence that can show the next generation what a swamp means and its
significance in ecology.
What worries ecologists is when there are special laws to conserve wetlands, an important place of ecological importance is facing extinction to sheer commercial greed. The latest move by municipal administration lacks meaning and ecology cannot be compromised for tourism and other related activities, he said.
Since the officials are seemingly not in a mood to revise their decision, TNGM has no option but to approach the National Green Tribunal to conserve this important wetland in Ooty, he concluded.
