Collector U. Sagayam has given an ultimatum to the departments of Public Works (PWD) and Revenue to evict all encroachments along the water bodies by March-end.
At a monthly review meeting, he said that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had directed that encroachments that were blocking water channels be removed in the larger interest of farmers.
The PWD authorities, in coordination with the revenue officials, should carry out the exercise without any delay. The engineers said that 1,212 encroachments had been identified along the Periyar-Vaigai channel and 602 were evicted.
Along Periyar Main canal, 308 encroachments were evicted out of the 679 identified and along the Gundar river, 79 were cleared out of 135 identified.
The Collector wanted the officials to avail police assistance if needed and set a deadline and work accordingly.
Following representations from public at the weekly grievance redress meeting, Mr. Sagayam asked the revenue authorities to identify IMFL retail outlets situated near educational institutions and places of worship and shift them with the help of police.
