Madras High Court has ordered Tamil Nadu Government to take a stand on encroachers who occupied 32 acres of lake property on city fringes within two months. The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M.M.Sundresh passed orders based on a public interest litigation filed by social activist Traffic Ramasamy.
As per his complaint, more than 32 acres around Arafath lake at Sozhambedu village in Thirumullaivoyal in Ambattur taluk of Thiruvallur district had been encroached upon by the anti-social elements.
He also confessed that the water resources have been depleted due to this and as a result water scarcity is inevitable in most of the localities in the region. The residents formed a welfare association and they sent several representations since April'14. But none of them were fruitful.
The repeated petitions were sent to Chief Minister's cell and Commissioner of Avadi municipality with respect to removal of encroachment. The last representation was sent on November 3rd 2014. Traffic Ramasamy also said that the encroached property will be worth more than 100 Crores.
