South Chennai residents oppose proposed Mamallan reservoir project
Residents and environmental groups in South Chennai are petitioning against the proposed Mamallan reservoir project. They argue the project threatens local wetlands, increases flood risks, and fails to address the actual water needs of the OMR corridor.
Why it matters
Highlights the tension between infrastructure development and environmental conservation in rapidly growing urban areas.
More than 50 organisations and residents’ welfare associations, particularly those from the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) corridor, along with 1,100 citizens, have petitioned the Chief Minister seeking the scrapping of the proposed Mamallan reservoir project.
Residents said the project was being justified as a means of meeting the drinking water needs of OMR, but argued that it could instead damage the Kovalam-Nemmeli salt marsh, affect livelihoods and increase flood risks in the surrounding areas.
Bhuwana Raj of Sholinganallur said OMR residents had been seeking piped drinking water for more than two decades, even as water pipelines passing through the area supplied other parts of the city. “We do not want our name to be used to justify an ecological disaster,” she said, adding that the proposed reservoir could destroy habitat used by more than 200 local and migratory bird species.
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