Twenty years on, 70-year-old Perambalur woman continues fight to rid lake of encroachments

PERAMBALUR: It’s an unending struggle for 70-year-old T Nallambal of Nannai village in Kunnam taluk, who has been visiting the Perambalur Collectorate almost every Monday for the past 20 years, to get rid of encroachments and bring a lake back to life that was once a major source of drinking water for her village.

The agricultural labourer, whose husband died 20 years ago, lives alone in a rented house in the village. She doesn’t have children. With the Madras High Court recently reiterating its stand to demolish all illegal
buildings constructed on waterbodies across the State, Nallambal sees a ray of hope.

Talking to TNIE, she said, "The lake was spread over 7.8 acres. It dried up over the years owing to poor maintenance. People started encroaching upon the waterbody and built houses on over two acres. I filed a case in the Madras High Court in 2013. The court directed authorities to remove encroachments. But of
the 56 houses that were built on the lake bed, only three houses were demolished. I have so far met four collectors in Perambalur urging them to reclaim the lake. But no one has taken action as most of the occupants are government employees."Nallambal also said that some people who are currently building houses on the water body offered her up to Rs.20 lakh to give up her fight, but she refused.

"On May 2, unknown people attacked me and snatched away some documents that I had to prove that a waterbody existed there. Encroachers have now threatened me with dire consequences. But I still have more copies and also an old map of the area, proving my claim,” she said.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) district unit member N Chelladurai said, "It is true that the houses have been built on the lake. She gave me a petition twice seeking support. We staged demonstration twice in Perambalur town, but nothing happened. Encroachers have got ‘patta’ by giving bribes to authorities."

When contacted, Kunnam tahsildar A Anitha said, "Those who built the houses were given patta 20 years ago. After that, there has been no encroachment on the lake." TNIE tried calling Perambalur Collector P Sri Venkada Priya, but was unable to reach her.