In a 12-hour-long encroachment clearing drive supported by a posse of police personnel in Sengulam tank in Alundhur village in Manikandam block, revenue and rural development officials cleared coconut trees, paddy fields, and jasmine shrubs and other crops from vast swaths of land.
The officials silted up seven wells, and disconnected power supply for agricultural motors of five wells (among the seven wells). The operation-eviction followed a directive from the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court which was issued first in August 2006 and again in March 2013. A group of 13 villagers had encroached 10 hectares of the 29-hectare Sengulam tank and had set up seven bore wells of which five had been provided power supply.
In 2006, a case was filed in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court asking the court to direct the district authorities to clear the encroachments and restore the water body to its original size.
The Bench issued an order in March 2013 cancelling the pattas issued by authorities.
The entire operation was kept confidential . “We deployed police personnel around each well as a precautionary measure – lest the encroachers should threaten us by jumping into it,” official sources told The Hindu .
