Madhumitha Viswanath By Express News Service CHENNAI: Medavakkam’s Sitheri lake reminds Suresh Kumar of his good old times. A long time resident of the area, he spent most of his youth bathing and fishing in the lake. Fast forward 10 years, nobody dares to step into the lake, filled with sewage and garbage.“If anyone bathes here, their body gets rashes and sores. How can anyone enter the lake when we see raw sewage gushing into it everyday?” questions Suresh, who has been fighting for the revival of the lake, along with other residents. Sitheri, Chinna Eri and Periya Eri lakes have been the lifelines of the bustling and dust-filled locality of Medavakkam. The area’s development over the past 10 years saw these water bodies turn into sewage-filled swamps. Lack of maintenance is one of the main reasons behind this dilapidated condition. The residents say that these lakes weren’t even desilted during summer when there was hardly any water.The locals say that storm water drains, meant to drain rainwater, have been carrying sewage because the apartments in and around Sitheri have been pushing it and polluting the water bodies to a very large extent. Express visited the spot and found that the drains laid along the Medavakkam Main Road directly let dark coloured, foul smelling sewage into the lake. A thick growth of water hyacinth and other invasive weeds had covered the breadth of the lake. “Water channels, which connected these lakes to each other, have been broken recently. As we don’t have underground sewage connections, the junk generated by the entire area is dumped into these three lakes through different inlets,” Suresh said. Express’ field visit found that around five inlets drained sewage into Sitheri lake. Chinna Eri too was in a similar condition. Sewage wasn’t directly visible in Periya Eri because of its sheer volume. However, the canals leading to it contained waste water. Zoom out and pan About five kilometres away, Vengaivasal’s biggest lake also suffers from the same problems. Express visited the lake and found that a mud canal, on one side, carried rainwater into the lake and on the other, a channel carrying sewage was entering it. “Recently, authorities started fish breeding in this lake. The sewage flow wasn’t stopped even then. We have seen lorries dumping waste into the drains right outside the village panchayat office. These are directly connected to Vengaivasal lake,” said AG Dinakaran, a resident. Express visited the panchayat office and found that a pipe from sewer lorries parked inside, was letting out sewage into storm water drains along the Mambakkam Road, through a hole in the wall. “This has been happening for many years now. We complained several times to the officials but no action has been taken yet. A vendor outside the office even fell sick because of the stench,” said a florist who runs a shop near the office. Officials speak Responding to the allegation, a panchyat official said that they were not aware of it, and that it will be stopped soon. The offical added that they have asked the state highways department to stop construction of drains directly into Sitheri lake and instead, divert it. “They have stopped construction but the existing drain hasn’t been blocked. We have repeatedly complained to them,” the official said.John Louis, collector of the newly formed Chengalpattu district, under which Medavakkam falls, said he will take immediate action against the erring officials.

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