As the district witnessed frequent monsoon failures, the district administration has launched ‘Oorukku oru oorani’ (a water harvesting pond for a village), a flagship programme to address water scarcity, even while cleansing the district from the invasive ‘seemai karuvelam’ (prosophis juliflora) trees.
Under the programme launched by Collector S. Natarajan, the administration encouraged villagers to desilt and deepen water tanks and ponds in the villages through community participation and provided machinery at cheap cost through agriculture engineering department.
“The user group is also encouraged to remove the karuvelam trees in the stipulated areas before digging the water structures,” official sources said. Nenmadur panchayat in Paramakudi union has removed karuvelam trees from all private lands in the panchayat and set an example for others to follow, they said.
The district administration has also proposed to draw a long term action plan and revive the ancient ‘kudimamaramathu system,’ involving the community end users in maintaining common property resources.
The district has 1077 system and non-system tanks and these would be maintained by an integrated water resources management scheme, the sources said.
“This process promotes coordinated development and management of water, land and related sources to maximise the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems and environment,” they also said.
To propagate the benefits of the system, the district administration proposed to launch awareness programmes through ‘puthuvazhvu’ and Mahalir thittams.
A revenue earning mechanism would be worked out through auctioning of the karuvelam trees in waterbodies and supply channels. The uprooted karuvelam trees would be replaced by alternative and fruit bearing plantations, the sources said.
Removal of karuvelam trees turned out to be a huge task as the invasive species had grown in 36,289 hectares of government lands and 68,658 hectares of private lands in the district and it has been estimated that it would require ₹. 165 crore to remove the trees in PWD tanks and other government promboke lands alone, sources said.
People resorted to ‘cultivating’ the drought resistant species as they got good return in form of firewood and the value added charcoal with negligible investment, sources pointed out. When the district was often hit by drought, the farmers and farmworkers eked out their living by cutting the trees for firewood and charcoal making.
