Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Protect Rettai Eri from pollution: study

By Akila Dinakar

CHENNAI JAN. 2. The Rettai Eri, one of the minor water sources of Chennai, is getting polluted by domestic and commercial sources, says a research paper.

The study carried out by S. Dawood Sharief, a professor of the New College, and Mazher Sulthana of the Bharathi Women's College says that while the Red Hills and Puzhal lakes, which supply water to Chennai, are protected, the Rettai Eri, also called Madhavaram tank, and the Kolathur tank are surrounded by human habitations.

The Rettai Eri is surrounded by 12 tea stalls, five butcher shops and 10 grocery stores in the north. Shops dealing with electrical goods, electroplating, welding and engineering, a food processing company, a bottle cleaning unit, two aqua farms, an ornamental fish culturing unit, two temples, 50 houses and 10 bungalows are also located there. Garbage is dumped into the water, used by the public for bathing and washing clothes, cattle and vehicles. During rain, the soil run-off adds to the pollution, says the study.

It has suggested that the Government take immediate action to protect the freshwater ecosystem by relocating encroachers, widening and strengthening the bund and beautifying the area around the lake. Action must be taken against the shops dumping wastes into the lake.

The paper was presented at Envirotech - 2003, a two-day seminar organised by the Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed College for Women in the city early this week.

At the valedictory, the Madras University Vice-Chancellor, S.P. Thyagarajan, urged researchers to take up applied research projects in the areas of molecular biology and biotechnology, while following the international bio-safety guidelines. He gave away awards to Abdullah Adil Ansari of the Ecoscience Research Foundation, Bhakiyathu Saliha of the Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai, and Mubeen Sultana of the Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed College for their papers presented at the seminar.

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