Ramapuram ‘ecological hotspot’ turns as scarecrow

CHENNAI: Named after Ecological Hot spot, the Ramapuram Lake and the park, which was inaugurated by Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) spending around Rs 1 crore in December last year, has failed to attract visitors due to the poor maintenance and beautification.

With the Cyclone Nivar and subsequent weeks-long heavy rainfall hit the city, the entire lake area now turned unattractive despite it's has been the only source of drinking water for more than one lakh villagers.

The civic body, as part of the rejuvenation, had set up an ecological park by laying down a walkway around the lake.  But the many portions of the walkway have now been damaged due to the heavy rain, and the weeds and shrubs have grown in uncontrolled fashion all over the floor titles making walking difficult.       

Mr. A. Paul Dhas, President, Ramapuram Social Welfare Federation, said that the only thing looking good now out there was a name board with the pictures of present and former Chief Ministers that was erected on the day of inauguration. Lake is filled with shrubs and algae.

Concrete chairs placed around the lake turned useless due to the surroundings turned filthy and unhygienic.  Even after a year of inauguration, no pathway is laid to reach the walkway around the lake. Lot of electrical concrete boulders supposed to be brought in for beautification works are stacked at the frontage for many months.

A little space available to reach the lake is blocked due to vehicle parking. In short, so called park has now become a scarecrow as a result of poor maintenance of the lake as well as the park. We are happy to provide support if the GCC comes forward to maintain the park. This Lake was rejuvenated after the surrounding water bodies have already been encroached. Though the authorities claim that they would not allow further encroachments, the poor maintenance will only help the people to encourage in the area further’, he said.

Meanwhile, the authorities said they were planning to beautify the area by  clearing the shrubs and weeds once the rainy season would be over. The works would be undertaken with the support of various departments including Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB), said a zonal level officer.    

The lake was spread over 27 acres in the early 1990s, but in 2015 had shrunk to an area of four acres. Houses were built by citizens in the encroached land, and TNSCB tenements were constructed on the lake bed while a significant portion was taken away by a private educational institution. In fact, various arms of the state government were confused about ownership of the lake.

According to a report of tahsildar, Maduravoyal Taluk in August 2019, out of 10.87 hectares (27acres) Ramapuram Lake and water-bodies spread over, 2.08 hectares (5.13 acres) has been classified as ‘Gramanatham’ (village residential area) in the revenue records.

The remaining extent of 8.79 hectares (21acres) stood registered as Ramapuram Lake. Of this, 1.66hacters (4acres) was earmarked for Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board. The rest of the land must have remained as Ramapuram Lake and water-bodies.

But the lake, in reality today, reduced to 85ares (2.1acres) due to rampant encroachments. Though the lake is maintained by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) since 2012, encroachments continue to be taking place in the adjoining two sides of the lake in Thirumalai Nagar’, the report reveals.