Heavy rain in the forests on Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border near Natrampalli has resulted in check dam built by Andhra Pradesh across Palar near Pullur overflowing and water entered Tamil Nadu.
Forests on the western side of the Pullur check-dam received heavy rainfall a couple of days ago. It is an important catchment areas of Palar in the region. Hence Palar received heavy flow on the upper side of the Pullur dam. This resulted in the dam overflowing.
R. Mualli, District Secretary of TamilNadu Vivasayigal Sangam, based at Natrampalli, said the water flowed through Thimmampettai, Ramanayakkanpettai, Mannankuppam, Ambalur and Kodaiyanji. Water flows up to the sub-surface dyke which has been built across the river at Kodaiyanji to improve water level in the drinking water wells. These wells provided drinking water to Natrampalli, Jolarpettai, and Vaniyambadi, he said.
‘Conservation pays off’
Mr. Mullai wanted to draw the attention of the State government to the fact that since Andhra Pradesh protected its forests, it attracted good rainfall and Tamil Nadu too should focus on conserving forests.
“Thanks to the sub-surface dyke at the Kodaiyanji, there has been significant rise in the levels in drinking water wells.
“Local bodies need not worry about water supply for another six months. Had the sand bed not been exploited between Pullur and Kodaiyanji, the benefit of this flow would have doubled. We also wanted the government to build identical sub-surface dykes at Ramanayakkanpettai and Avarankuppam so that wells in those regions too record good water levels,” he added.
There was heavy rainfall in the Ambur, Vaniyambadi and Natrampalli areas of Vellore district too. A few culverts around Ramanayakkampettai got damaged due to heavy flow of water, sources added.
