The Madras High Court has issued a notice to the State Government asking it to list the steps it had taken to protect River Noyyal from encroachments and effluents.
The Coimbatore Consumer Cause had filed the case, a public interest litigation, praying for a direction to the government to take immediate action to remove all encroachments in the lakes that were a part of the River Noyyal basin, to provide alternative accommodation by way of tenements to eligible poor encroachers under any scheme and to ensure that no new encroachment is made in any form in the lakes forming River Noyyal basin.
Secretary of the consumer body, K. Kathirmathiyon, said that he was forced to file the case because over the years the River basin, source of drinking water, had come under encroachment, which had given way to the formation of slums, housing units, bus depots, road, and electricity sub-stations. In 2013, the ENVIS Centre on Wetland Ecosystem had studied the River Noyyal basin and its ecosystem and pointed out various encroachments by individuals and private and government organisations.
The organisation had written to government agencies/officers concerned and issued notices as well. Since there was no response, it had moved the court with a public interest litigation. The court had posted the matter for hearing on June 9, he added.
The Coimbatore Consumer Cause had filed the case, a public interest litigation, praying for a direction to the government to take immediate action to remove all encroachments in the lakes that were a part of the River Noyyal basin, to provide alternative accommodation by way of tenements to eligible poor encroachers under any scheme and to ensure that no new encroachment is made in any form in the lakes forming River Noyyal basin.
Secretary of the consumer body, K. Kathirmathiyon, said that he was forced to file the case because over the years the River basin, source of drinking water, had come under encroachment, which had given way to the formation of slums, housing units, bus depots, road, and electricity sub-stations. In 2013, the ENVIS Centre on Wetland Ecosystem had studied the River Noyyal basin and its ecosystem and pointed out various encroachments by individuals and private and government organisations.
The organisation had written to government agencies/officers concerned and issued notices as well. Since there was no response, it had moved the court with a public interest litigation. The court had posted the matter for hearing on June 9, he added.