OMR Greens plan for Padur Lake

Padur Lake, OMR, 
The idea for a plan to develop the lake in the Padur  neighbourhood on OMR,Chennai, came up during a visit of OMR Greens, comprising mainly  Mantri Synergy residents. Most of us were there for the first time; and there are folks in our OMR neighbourhood who are not even aware of the existence of a natural water body with potential to be developed into a recreational area.

Our visit was an eye-opener, in the sense that we found the lake was being subject to reckless abuse by residents in the vicinity of the lake. Besides washing clothes and bathing, vehicle owners brought their three-wheelers and even trucks for a wash in the lake water. Those who stray into the lakeside for an early morning walk may find themselves intruding into the morning routine of people who come there because of lack of toilet facilities in their houses.

A key lesson we learned  during OMR Greens visit was that any lake conservation programme has to start with mobilizing opinion among residents in the neighbourhood; and building a row of public toilets on the lakeside. The provision of public toilets would enable us to gain local support to put up a fence. blocking public access to the water front.

 V R Volunteers, a group of service-minded IT professionals at Kelambakkam, has offered to carry out a lakeside cleaning programme. They can also be involved in creating public awareness among Padur residents. Considering that  a drinking water scheme with lakeside pumping station was implemented with Asian Development Bank loan in 2008, makes lake protection imperative, if this water body has to remain a source of drinking water. Lakeside fencing and provision of public toilets would be a necessary first phase of Padur Lake  development.

The measure of our success in mobilising support from panchayat, neighbourhood high-rise residents, Hindustan University, and IT companies with funds for such community projects for the initial phase would determine the course of the second phase for development of the lakeside into a recreational zone, with walkway,  jogging track, open-air theatre and children's play area. Turning Padur lake into a recreational zone would, in the medium-term, help raise property value in the Padur neighbourhood.          

Padur lakeside needs 'Namma Toilets'

Our apartments complex - Mantri Synergy - viewed from the lakeside, Padur. Photo by Balakrishnan, a Mantri resident and OMR Greens member.

Neighbourhood  residents on a recent Photowalk  along Padur Lake  were struck by the scenic settings, and its potential for development into a prime recreational area,  to serve the cluster of high-rise residential communities that have come up on  Padur-Kelambakkam stretch.

Families living in  Akshaya's, ETA Rosedale,  Mantri Synergy, X S Real,  The Jains, The Gem Group and Poorvankara wouldn't have to look any farther than their backyard for Sunday picnicking. A paved walkway, joggers track,  lakeside picnic areas, and open-air performance stage would account for high value social infrastructure.

Govt. funding would be hard to come by  for  such big ticket social infra-project. We could try a partnership model involving all stakeholders in lake area development - residents,  property developers, corporates with CSR budget, panchayat,  local town-planning authorities, urban development and tourism depts. Stakeholders share the project cost. We could try crowd-funding.

Maybe  OMR Greens are into big-ticket dreams,  triggered by their  Padur Lake Photowalk. Maybe, other neighbourhood  residents and photo enthusiasts should take to  photowalk , to explore the lakeside further and  talk about it in the social media. To start with,  let us open a Padur Lake plan page on Facebook.

Any lake development plan at Padur, we reckon, must start with provision of clean bank of public toilets along the lake. Their need would be evident for anyone who takes an early morning lakeside walk. That is when you find many people moving about behind the bushes around the lake.

Padur has recently acquired Nilgiris - air-conditioned super-mart - but, apparently, there are still houses in its neighbourhood with no proper toilets. Influx of migrant workers seeking rented houses for group-living adds to the pressure, driving  many residents to the bushes in the morning. Lakeside public toilet is a crying need, and no lake improvement plan can be implemented without fulfilling the basic need of people in the vicinity.

Photo  from ChennaiOnline

Namma Toilet, of the type that has been built at Tambaram,  appears to hold a solution to the problem of public defecation around  Padur Lake.  According to Tambaram municipal commissioner, a 'Namma Toilet' unit costs nearly Rs.70,000. A prefabricated modular stall, 'Namma Toilet'  can be assembled at the site.
Sanitation specialist Somya Sethuraman, writing in The Hindu, speaks of the need for a collective effort to create a user-friendly design, which would cater to the needs of all kinds — men and women, children, the elderly, and residents with special needs.

Somya writes: "The toilets have louvres on all four sides and a sunroof to allow for optimal ventilation, natural light and a feeling of openness without compromising user privacy. The fittings and fixtures are vandal resistant, durable and user-friendly. Each toilet stall is powered by a solar panel installed on the roof. During the day, the toilets get sunlight while the solar panels charge the battery, and when it is dark, the stalls are lit with motion sensor lighting".

A bank of five toilets by Padur lakeside would cost Rs.5 lakhs. If this could raised by way of crowd-funding and corporate CSR contribution,  OMR Greens can be said to have taken a baby step towards their big-ticket social infrastructure project that would benefit emerging residential communities on Padur-Kelambakkam stretch of OMR.

Padur lakeside photowalk, video by Soman Panicker

Lakeside Photowalk

Would like to hear from amateur camera enthusiasts who wish to join OMR Greens on a  PhotoWalk this weekend along the lake behind ETA Rosedale.
Idea is to capture images of the recyclable garbage discarded on the lakeside. An album of such photos would be published in Facebook, as a run up to the OMR Greens Recyclables Retrival Day.
Our plan is to mobilize a group of students, equipped with garbage bags, for a lakeside recyclables collection, on a specifed date (say March 10 or 17). Plastic bottles, cardboard, paper etc. so collect would be sold to raddiwalahs. And the proceeds would go the rag-picker families we have identified at Padur.
To-do list for OMR Greens:
1) Contact local municipal school for mobilsing student voluntters.
2) Shop for sponsors to pay for gloves and polythene garbage bags.
3) Connect with Hindustan University civil engineering faculty for drafting project report and cost estimates for barbed wire fencing on strategic segments around the lake; and for construction of public toilets, with piped water from the lake, for the benefit of those who now use lakeside bushes.
The project report, prepared by the university faculty, would be taken up with relevant authorities.

A walk by the lakeside, Padur

 I have heard Padur residents get water supplied from a  lake in their backyard. Truckloads of water Mantri Synergy residents used to get before borewells were activated was, presumably,  sourced from this lake. Beneficiaries would find a visit to the lake educative. For me, a lakeside walk early this morning was thought-provoking.
Tell-tale movement of persons,  close to the lake suggest the following::
1) There is a crying need for a row of public toilets, watered from the lake,  for the benefit of those now using lakeside bushes for the purpose.
2) The water body needs to be fenced off , to make it inaccessible to public.
3) The muddy pathway that runs along the lake is so littered with snails that we could do with a signpost, saying,  'Snails Crossing: Tread/Drive Carefully'.

They are seen in scores moving about on the muddy road, in early mornings. Snails dislike sunlight. When it comes to pace the fastest of snails, they say, move 50 yards per hour.
The need for fencing off the lake can't be overstated. State govt. water supply undertaking has a pumping station that was put up five years back  under a community drinking water supply scheme  funded by the Asian Development Bank.  Lake-fencing, and provision of public toilets, which might not have been necessary factors when the drinking water scheme was launched, in 2008, now assume a critical dimension.

Suggestion: Engineering students/faculty in neighbourhood  institutions such as Hindustan University  and Mohd. Sathak Engineering College can take up Padur lake improvement as a class project. The project report they come up with can become a campaign theme for OMR Greens for mobilizing public support for implementation of the lake conservation scheme.