The lifting of silt by farmers free of cost from the dry beds of water bodies under a recently introduced State Government scheme has proved to be successful in the district.
There has been good response from farmers. Officials of the departments of revenue, public works department and agriculture have risen to the occasion to ensure success of the programme.
The district administration, in its move to popularise this scheme among the farming community and the local residents about the scheme, has been organising meetings in various blocks to create an awareness.
The district administration and the PWD have identified 976 dry water bodies, including the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur, and the sprawling Panamarathupatti lake, the main source for drinking water supply to Salem city.
Earlier, the farmers had to apply to the District Collector for getting permission for the lifting of the silt by mentioning a convincing reason. Under the simplified procedure, the farmers need to submit applications to the tahsildars at the respective taluk offices for the same.
The inauguration of the programme by lifting silt from the Mettur Dam, for the first time in the 83-year-old history of the dam by the Chief Minister himself, sent the right message to farmers on the importance accorded by the government for the scheme.
The District Collector, V. Sampath, has already conducted the awareness programmes at Mettur, Edappadi, Attur, and Salem to motivate farmers to take advantage of the scheme. The silt could enrich the fertility and texture of the soil, they were told.
Mr. Sampath, said that the district targeted to rope in about two lakh farmers for the programme.
So far, applications for lifting of the sand from 259 water bodies have already been cleared by the authorities. Following this, 14,087 farmers have lifted more than 13.91 lakh cubic metres of silt, the Collector said.
He urged farmers to lift the silt before the onset of the south-west monsoon.
Mr. Sampath, accompanied by K.R. Selvaraj, Corporation Commissioner, and other officials inspected the silt lifting works at the Panaramathupatti Lake on Wednesday. According to the Collector, 60 farmers have already got permission to remove silt from the tank.
