Chennai: Making it clear that the desilting process has to go on parallely with surveying of water bodies, to ensure that the existing water bodies are preserved, the Madras high court has said if the water bodies are not saved, it will be very difficult for the survival of the future generation and they could see water only in sea and not anywhere.
A division bench comprising Justices M. Venugopal and S. Vaidyanathan posted to March 18, further hearing of a PIL filed by V.B.R.Menon, which sought to institute appropriate water management systems based on standard specifications, modern technology and GPS based instruments to achieve optimum utilization of all the water bodies situated with the city of Chennai and its suburban areas to guarantee no wastage of water into the sea.
Stating that the survey has already been commenced with regard to 400 water bodies and the same is yet to be completed, government advocate sought further time for filing a status report. At his request, the bench granted time till March 18 for filing a status report.
The bench said the government must ensure that as and when it rains, the rainwater was saved properly, as water was very essential commodity for the entire mankind and for their existence. "It is saddening to note that though our state has all the resources, due to the lethargic attitude of the officials of the departments and lack of interest in its preservation, we are made to beg for water from other states. In foreign countries, if a sketch for any underground project is prepared, the rulers/officials would, at the first instance, find out the way for free flow or diversion of ground water and thereafter, execute the project and in case there is no feasibility of ingress and egress of water underneath, the project itself would be cancelled. That is not the case in our country, more particularly, in Tamil Nadu, as according to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended March, 2017, encroachments on water bodies accounted for 49 percent of the total objectionable encroachments, which may include the railway projects also. Though the Government of Tamil Nadu has launched the metro rail project in Chennai with the foreign collaboration and aid, for the welfare of the public at large, it is a million dollar question as to whether any earnest steps have been taken by the officials in preserving water bodies during its implementation, despite the fact that the ground water level is getting reduced day-by-day and there is a severe threat of scarcity of water in the ensuing days", the bench added.
