Lake on the edge

A hospital on the bank of Pondicherry8217;s Ousteri lake is causing concern. Activists allege construction has begun even without the mandatory environmental clearance

A little-known lake, home to more than 100 species of migratory and resident birds on the edge of Pondicherry town, has raised the concern of environmentalists across the country.

Agaram villagers around the picturesque Ousteri lake, perhaps the only inland water body of its size 8 sq km which the exotic French town can boast of, have raised protests against a Trust for constructing a medical college and hospital on its southern bank, without the crucial Environment Ministry nod.

Villagers and local activists fear that once functional, the hospital would cause serious degradation by dumping sewerage into the lake and depleting the water-table.

While the college8217;s two-storeyed buildings and proposed 300-bed hospital of the Sri Lakshmi Narayana Institute of Medical Science run by the Sri Lakshmi Ammal Education Trust owned by an influential politician and former MP, Dr S Jagathrakshakan, have already come up on 26 acres, the Union Territory8217;s Pollution Control Committee is yet to submit details of a public hearing on the issue and other related documents to the Environment Ministry for its clearance. Many villagers have opposed the project.

IN its report submitted to the Pollution Control Committee, the Trust admits that 8216;8216;as the site for the proposed institution is just across the road from the southern bank of Oussudu or Ousteri lake, great attention has been given to the assessment of the present status of the lake in view of its internationally recognised ecological importance.8217;8217;

But, strangely, the institution could not even wait for an environmental clearance before going ahead with the construction.

8216;8216;Obviously somebody got paid off extremely well,8217;8217; alleges Dr Rouf Ali, environmentalist and enthusiastic birdwatcher living in Auroville outside Pondicherry.

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8216;8216;What pains us is that while the government takes lot of effort to preserve old coins and paintings, they are least bothered about a 1000-year-old lake which is the only 8216;wild life8217; area we can be proud of,8217;8217; says Siva Ganapathy, a local school teacher, trying to enlist villagers8217; support to save the lake.

Member Secretary of the Pollution Control Committee, Rudra Goud, told The Sunday Express that recordings of the public hearing and objections to the project, if any, were yet to be submitted to the Union Environment Ministry.

8216;8216;They The Lakshmi Ammal Trust are not supposed to start construction. We have asked the Town Planning Authority to take steps to stop it.8217;8217; But no one is listening and construction is going on at a fast pace.

The Pollution Control Committee quietly posted a note on its website on February 22, 8216;8216;seeking for any written remarks/suggestions/objection regarding the establishment of these including another project listed on the site medical colleges shall be sent to the Pondicherry Pollution Control Committee by 5:00 p.m. on or before 03/03/2006. Any remarks, suggestions, objection received thereafter will not be considered.8217;8217;

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Four leading organisations, including the Indian Cranes 038; Wetlands Working Group ICWWG, Bombay Natural History Society, Wetlands International and the WWF, India, have written 8216;letters of concern,8217;8217; pointing out that the development of a college and a hospital across the Ousteri lake was 8216;8216;likely to have direct and indirect effects on its well-being.8217;8217;

The lake, recognised as a wetland of international importance based on the large numbers of birds that depend on this site, has been an important part of a global waterbird monitoring programme coordinated by Wetlands International and coordinated in India by the Bombay Natural History Society, since 1987.