Tamil Nadu - Erode   

Project to recharge groundwater to be implemented in Erode district soon

PHOTO: M. GOVARTHAN

Sharing his views: Collector Mahesan Kasirajan addressing participants at a seminar organised in Erode on Tuesday to execute a project to recharge groundwater. Assistant General Manager, NABARD, S.Srinivasan (fourth left), and Lead District Manager J.Vanagamudi (third left) are also in the picture. —

ERODE: If all goes well, a project to recharge ground water will soon be under way in Erode district.

The project that will be implemented in Perundurai, T.N. Palayam, Bhavani Sagar, Sathyamangalam, Thalavadi, Ammapet, Anthiyur and Nambiyur blocks will be for three financial years.

It aims at building rain water-harvesting structures near open, dug wells to raise the ground water table.

“The objective of the scheme is to recharge the existing dug wells using rainfall from agricultural fields to facilitate improvement in groundwater situation in the affected areas, which in turn will improve the overall irrigated agricultural productivity and help in improving the quality of groundwater, especially in fluoride affected areas,” says the Tamil Nadu Government.

As per the scheme, for every well that is recharged on a small farmer’s land, the Government will give Rs. 4,000 as subsidy. For other farmers it is Rs. 2,000 a well. There is no cap on the number of wells, though.

Rough estimates suggest that around 37,000 wells in the eight blocks will stand to benefit from the project.

In the State, 12.5 lakh wells will be covered at Rs. 5 crore.

In the district, the aforementioned blocks have been categorised into semi-critical, critical and over-exploited areas.

Perundurai and T.N. Palayam are in semi-critical state followed by Bhavani Sagar, Sathyamangalam and Thalavadi in critical condition.

The other three Ammapet, Anthiyur and Nambiyur have been classified over exploited.

To oversee the implementation of the project, a district-level committee has been formed with the Collector as chairman and manager of the Lead District Bank, NABARD representative, representatives of financing banks and officers from Government departments as members.

Collector Mahesan Kasirajan promised the district administration’s support in implementing the project.

“The district administration will do all it can to implement the project,” he said at the Workshop on Artificial Recharge of Ground Water through Dug Wells in Hard Rock Areas of the Country.

Manager of Lead Bank J. Vannangamudi said the scheme would help Tamil Nadu, which had no perennial river source and was dependent only on monsoons.

Assistant General Manager, NABARD, S. Srinivasan explained the salient features of the scheme. Officers from Government departments participated.

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