Hatchery owner arrested on NGT orders

A hatchery owner was arrested today on the orders of the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal here, which took suo motu cognisance of a news report about encroachment of 42 hectares of government land in the estuary at suburban Muttukadu by dumping debris.
The Southern Bench, comprising, judicial member Justice P Jyothimani and expert member R Nagendran, initiated suo motu proceedings on the basis of the report in an English newspaper last week.
On being ordered a notice from the NGT, the Kancheepuram district collector inspected the place with a team, which revealed that one Arokiasamy had encroached the land by dumping the construction debris. He was arrested by police.

The Collector's report further said the district administration has also identified two other encroachers in the prohibited area, who have allegedly constructed a compound wall.
They have been identified as Kovalam Beach Hotel and Samuel Mathew and Meena Mathew, the report said.
Though the report said the construction work of compound wall was stopped, it did not mentioned whether any action has been initiated against them.