Clearing of encroachments from Retteri lake begins amidst stiff opposition

Water Resources Department removes encroachments from Retteri lake in Chennai to improve water capacity and quality.

The Water Resources Department started a drive to remove encroachments from Retteri lake, one of the major water bodies in western parts of Chennai, amidst stiff opposition from the residents on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.

Tension prevailed at MGR Nagar, Puzhal, as encroached structures were razed down following court directive for eviction.

Heavy police force was deployed at the site to carry out the long pending exercise along with Revenue divisional office, North. The drive had also led to verbal spat between residents and officials in protest of clearing of structures from the water body. A few of them also threatened to set themselves ablaze and were stopped by the police.

According to WRD officials, a meeting was held in November last year among revenue department, police, WRD and residents on the issue and court directive. The WRD had identified nearly 78 encroached structures at MGR Nagar in the water body. The exercise would be continued on Thursday as well.

The department has earlier served eviction notices in 2019 as well.

The work to spruce up the water body into a drinking water source is being carried out at a cost of ₹43.19 crore. The project aims to improve Retteri’s capacity to 46 million cubic feet to enable it to be used as a buffer source for Chennai’s drinking water needs.

The project also includes work to strengthen the bund, build compound wall for three km and providing additional regulator for flood mitigation. Chennai Metrowater already has established its infrastructure to pump water to Kolathur water treatment plant from here.