Minister for Information Technology M. Manikandan and Principal Secretary, Tamil Nadu Transport Department Chandrakant B. Kamble, who is the monitoring officer for the district, reviewed the steps being taken by the district administration to address the drinking water woes and drought in the district.
After a meeting with Collector S. Natarajan, Paramakudi Sub Collector G. S. Sameeran and heads of various departments at the Collectorate here on Friday, the Minister and Monitoring Officer expressed satisfaction over the works done so far and suggested that the district administration continued to accord top priority to addressing the water crisis.
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Manikandan said the State was facing the worst drought in 142 years and steps were being taken on a war footing to address the drinking water crisis and mitigate drought. The Rural Development department has taken up as many as 893 works, at a total cost of ₹. 9.21 crore, including digging bore wells, ring wells, community wells and installing hand pumps. In all, administrative sanctions have been given for 1,022 works being done at a cost of ₹. 12.82 crore, he said. As there has been a drastic fall in the supply of Cauvery water drawn from sources in Tiruchi, efforts were being made to create new water sources in the villages and Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants were installed in coastal hamlets, where the groundwater was saline, he said.
As many as 80 RO plants have been set up in the coastal hamlets as alternative sources to supply drinking water, he said. Steps have been taken to install RO plants with the assistance of Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI).
Besides, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has offered to set up 15 ROs at the total cost of ₹. 1.75 crore, the Minister added. As part of drought relief, 1.38 lakh farmers, who had lost their crops were given drought relief of ₹. 145.60 crore, he said. District Revenue Officer C. Muthumari, Project Director and DRDA, S. S. Dhanapathy were present.
In Sivaganga, Minister for Khadi and Rural Industries Board G. Baskaran and District Monitoring officer R. Venkatesan reviewed the relief works with Collector S. Malarvizhi. Local MP P. R. Senthilnathan, Manamadurai MLA S. Mariappan Kennedy and Project Director, DRDA, Kanchana were present.
