A plea to the district authorities to check over exploitation of ground water by a bottling plant at Suriyur in Tiruverumbur union on the outskirts was made at the district panchayat council meeting on Thursday.
Raising the issue at the council meeting, chaired by T.Rajathi, chairperson, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member Chithravel alleged that though the unit was said to be only a bottling plant, it was tapping ground water heavily using six borewells for manufacture of soft drinks.
He charged that the unit was consuming about 90 lakh litres of water every day and urged the chairperson to take action to stop the exploitation of the ground water as it would have an adverse impact on agricultural operations in the area.
Ms.Rajathi said the matter would be referred to the district administration and expressed confidence that appropriate action would be initiated.
His party colleague Karunanidhi drew the attention of the authorities to the plight of cotton and maize growers in rain-fed areas in Pullampadi union owing to the failure of monsoon. Ninety per cent of cotton and maize crops in the union have withered owing to the poor rainfall, he said and urged the government to sanction Rs.25,000 an acre as compensation for cotton growers and Rs.20,000 an acre for maize growers.
Mr.Karnanidhi also complained over the frequent bursts in drinking water pipelines of the Coleroon drinking water scheme affecting supply to the tail-end areas in Pullampadi union.
AIADMK councillor M.R.Rajmohan called upon the district authorities to ensure uninterrupted power supply to Ponnar Shankar Temple at Valanadu and Periyakandi Amman Temple at Veerapur, during the annual festival scheduled to be held from March 16 to 18, this year. He also called upon the district panchayat to take steps to provide all necessary basic amenities at the villages to devotees. He called for steps to rectify a defective transformer at Renganathapuram near Thuvarankurichi as farmers have been affected owing to their inability to use agricultural pumpsets.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) member Reena called for the construction of a bridge across the Koozhaiyar at K.V.Pettai at Alangudi Mahajanam. People were finding it difficult to carry corpses to the burial ground whenever water was flowing on the river. She also sought a new building for the mini Anganwadi centre at Muthurajapuram.
Anandhi Ganesan of the AIADMK drew the attention of the chairperson to the frequent road accidents at Govindapuram on the Thuraiyur-Thammampatti Road and suggested that a speed breaker be laid at the village.
