Amid long drawn legal battles with neighbours and strained inter-State relations for getting due share of water, here is a classic case of official apathy and negligence resulting in rainwater getting drained into Kerala and that too goes unaccounted.
Due to heavy rain in September last, three check dams across the river Manjipallam got damaged.
This resulted in the entire North East monsoon rainwater and the subsequent water received through the summer showers drained into Kerala.
V. Easwaran, State Youth Wing President of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), says that a petition submitted to the officials concerned for reconstructing the check dams to conserve water for the sake of farmers has not yielded any results.
This is proving to be a cause for concern, especially at a time when the South East monsoon is all set to knock the doors of Tamil Nadu, Mr. Easwaran added.
River Manjipallam originates near Arivoli Nagar at Kovaipudur and it crosses the Palakkad Road and traverses via Kurumbapalayam, Madukkarai, Nachipalayam, Pachapalayam, Kumittipathy and enters Kerala via Vezhandavazham and gets drained into Bharathapuzha only to reach the Arabian Sea. Even when the check dams were intact, water conserved used to be less and farmers had been demanding for construction of additional check dams to conserve the rainwater so as to recharge the ground water acquifer. But, with even the existing three check dams having suffered damages, the entire rainwater gets drained into Kerala and flows into the Arabian sea.
This is a sharp contrast, especially when the neighbour Kerala was going ahead with construction of check dams across river Bhavani despite protests from Tamil Nadu.
MDMK plans to launch a campaign to mobilise the support of public and farmers and if the State failed to wake up from the slumber, the party will lay seige to the Collector’s office, Mr. Easwaran added.
