District Collector Jayashree Muralidharan has ordered immediate commencement of work on strengthening the bunds in Mavadikulam on the outskirts of the city.
A voluntary public initiative was taken up to restore Mavadikulam, a little known water body, in July last year. The tank, spread over 143 acres, has been reduced a shallow water body over the years and also been heavily encroached upon. Encroachments on the tank were removed last year.
Ms. Muralidharan, who had joined the initiative then, inspected the water body on Friday after Thaneer, a voluntary organisation, raised concern over the dumping of solid waste at the tank in recent days.
The Collector summoned senior officials of the Tiruchirapalli City Corporation and Public Works Department to the site and expressed concern over the dumping of wastes at the water body.
She was informed by the officials that a temporary driver of a garbage truck had dumped solid wastes in the tank unwittingly. Local people and nearby traders were dumping garbage into the tank.
Ms. Muralidharan instructed Corporation Commissioner V.P. Thandapani to remove the garbage at once and post conservancy staff at the site for a few days to prevent littering in the tank. She directed the civic officials to put up awareness sign boards to sensitise local people on the need to desist from littering the tank.
The Collector found that the work on strengthening the tank bunds and erection of sluices at a cost of about Rs. 20 lakh, sanctioned by P. Kumar, MP, from MP’s Local Area Development Scheme, had not yet commenced. She instructed the contractor to commence the work immediately.
She appealed to the local people to desist from dumping wastes into the tank and come forward to preserve the water body in their own interest.
Recently, the Society for Conservation of Nature, Tiruchi, had appealed to the State government to take steps to declare the tank a “conservation reserve” as many of the bird species which had flocked the tank after being cleaned up last year could not be found now.
