There has been only a muted response to Public Work Department’s offer of free topsoil to farmers from the Perumpallam Anicut at Surampatti in the city.
Five loads
The department had announced readiness to supply five lorry loads of topsoil free of cost to every individual farmer desiring to transport the load at their own initiative.
Earlier this month, the Department began digging out the soil using heavy machinery.
However, there were only a few takers since there is a general perception that the topsoil in the water body was brackish and would spoil even the existing fertility of fields.
When water that had stagnated at the Anicut for years was released into the desilted Nanjai Uthukuli canal for clearing hyacinth during June, several hundreds of dead fish surfaced.
The PWD is, in a way, relieved now since rainwater from the recent spell has now enveloped the surface of the water body.
With northeast monsoon season set to start, the anicut will contain water till the next summer season by when the soil quality will transform owing to the flow into the desilted canal, the PWD believes.
