The four-member Central Drought Relief Team, accompanied by state officials, inspected the bone-dry Vaigai River and several empty tanks in the region on Tuesday. The team surveyed the distribution of drinking water through tankers to residential colonies in the city suburbs.
The delegation, led by Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium Managing Director Pravesh Sharma, also visited Othakadai, Kabir Nagar and Kalikaapan enroute to Sivaganga district.
At the first point, the team inspected the drinking water supply through tankers in a thickly populated area near the High Court bench. Many women residents complained that they were supplied water only once in three days. They urged the team to order the sinking of borewells in their locality.
At Kalikaapan, the team members were briefed on the AMMA scheme, (Assured Maximum Services to Marginal People in All Villages). The residents described the misery that the drought brought in ita wake. With no rain, their cultivable lands had turned arid, they said. There was no fodder for the cattle.
Kamatchi, a resident of the area, informed the team that she bought rice under the Central and State schemes. Saraswathi, a second resident, said she had abandoned cultivation and opted to seek employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
At Netaji Nagar, the public demanded that the drainage in the area be cleaned as it posed a threat to the public health. Despite repeated reminders to the Corporation, no action was taken, they charged.
Later, Collector Anshul Mishra elaborated the steps taken to provide drinking water through tankers. As soon as the public called the information kiosk set up at the Collector’s office to meet the people’s water requirements, water tankers would be despatched from the nearest pumping station. The calls were recorded and follow-up action was being monitored, the Collector said.
