COIMBATORE: Madras high court has directed the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation to halt all the ongoing and proposed Smart City lakefront development activities in the Ukkadam Periyakulam and Valankulam lakes as they have severely damaged the natural habitats of birds.A division bench of the high court comprising Justice N Sathish Kumar and Justice K Rajasekar passed the order on Aug 14 acting on a writ petition filed by S Muralidharan. In his petition, Muralidharan stated that the Smart City activities and use of speed boats had affected natural habitats of birds. Muralidharan sought cessation of commercial operations and the removal of the 154 kW floating solar plant in the Ukkadam Periyakulam.In December last year, the court requested Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore, to study if development activities at the two lakes by the Coimbatore corporation was detrimental to the birds that nest in the waterbodies.In its report submitted to the court recently, SACON stated that Smart City lakefront developments in Coimbatore city have severely damaged natural habitats and microhabitats of wetland birds. The report revealed that heavy concretisation, commercial activities, and floating solar panels have triggered a sharp decline in waterbird populations.The court said, “Considering the serious lapses noted by the Institution (SACON), we direct the authorities, first, to set right the sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Ukkadam and Valankulam lakes forthwith and prevent untreated wastewater from flowing freely into the lakes. Further developmental activities, including the ongoing and proposed projects, shall be halted until the Wetland Management Plan is implemented.”According to the SACON report, the Ukkadam lake has witnessed a reporting frequency drop in nearly 78% of high-priority waterbirds catalogued in the State of India’s Birds dataset. Key species including the curlew sandpiper, slender-billed gull, and little tern have vanished from observation logs since 2021, while three endemic species have not been recorded since September 2018. Threatened birds such as the river tern, black-tailed godwit, and spot-billed pelican continue to show steep downward trajectories.The report said a similar crisis plagued the Valankulam lake, where species like the whiskered tern, garganey, and little ringed plover have seen rapid declines, with the common teal and common kestrel disappearing entirely post-2017.Ecologists noted that replacing gentle, muddy shorelines with steep concrete embankments eliminated shallow-water foraging grounds vital for waders. Invasive flora, untreated sewage inflows, and aquaculture conversions further degraded water quality and food chains.Initiated in 2018 across seven lakes, the Smart City lakefront projects at Ukkadam and Valankulam were executed at a cost of Rs 62.17 crore and Rs 67.86 crore, respectively.
