Following rising anger among the farmers over the continuance of water theft from irrigation systems in the Palar basin of Parambikulam Aliyar Project, the district administration, on Tuesday, agreed to constitute a committee to look into the issue and prevent any further thefts. The committee, to be constituted with officials from revenue, police, rural development, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation, highways and public works departments, would be conducting night patrols as well as randomly monitor theft-prone areas to ensure that the water was not illegally taken away by anyone. The decision came after a joint meeting of officials and farmers convened by Collector G. Govindaraj on Tuesday.
K. Paramasivam, a farmer and chairman of Project Committee for Palar Basin of PAP, formed under a government Act to monitor water budgeting and distribution of water to farmers, further asked Collector G. Govindaraj to take steps to remove all the illegally-laid pipes in the command areas.
“Water siphoning is more rampant in the sector between Thirumoorthy dam and Kallipalayam,” A. Swamiappan, another senior member of the Project Committee, pointed out.
According to the agrarian community, farmers at the tail end of the system suffer most because of water theft.
