A long-pending demand of farmers in Tiruvallur may soon come true as the Collectorate and the Water Resources Department are planning to allow them to remove silt from waterbodies and use it for cultivation.
Farmers in the district have been demanding that they be permitted to take silt from the lakes in the neighbourhood and use it in their fields.
Officials of the WRD said farmers would be allowed to take silt from nearly 65 tanks that have dried up. Some of the tanks, including in Magaral, Thirukandalam, Athivakkam, Cooum, Kilambakkam Pallipattu and Karanai, have not been desilted for over a decade.
Farmers noted that mixing of the top layer of silt from the waterbodies with soil would help nourish their fields. K. Sridhar of Manjankaranai village in Uthukottai taluk, said “This will help reduce the amount of manure I use,” he said. WRD sources said farmers would be allowed to take the silt free of cost under the supervision of the department and the revenue department for three months. Silt deposited up to two feet would be permitted to be cleared.
This process would help in boosting the storage capacity of the lakes and recharge groundwater. This measure would be extended to more tanks in the next phase, an official said.
