Nearly 300 residents of over 10 societies near Charkop lake, a 50-year-old water body, fear that construction on the lake is going to adversely affect them in the coming monsoon. In February, the residents had raised a red flag over partial filling of the six-acre lake for a housing project. Consequently, on February 20, the Mumbai Suburban Collector's office issued a notice to stop the land-filling till further notice and ordered a high-level inquiry into the issue. Two months on, however, while the Collector's office has identified and issued notices to three offenders, the rubble has still not been cleared from the site. The lake is a host to at least 10 species of migratory and resident birds and a "natural ecosystem', according to the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). It is also a natural drain during the monsoon, which is a boon for the housing colonies surrounding it. The United Association for Social, Educational and Public Welfare, the NGO that first informed the Collector's office of land-filling at the site, is now alleging that the plot has been handed over to "at least three builders' for development. The NGO and several long-time residents of the area have been fighting to save the lake since 2004. Reji Abraham, president of the NGO and a local resident, said during the July 26, 2005, deluge, when only 5 per cent of the land had been filled, the locality faced floods for the first time. He has stated that the over four acres of marshy land acts as an open drain during rains, attracting water and averting floods. Today, almost 50 per cent of the land has been filled, he added. "That's why, for the past four odd years, we have been fighting to save this lake,' he said. "We recently ran