All the 53 tanks in Madurai district that have been taken up for renovation under kudimaramathu this year would be cleared of wild growth, said a senior Public Works Department Engineer T. Subramanian.
Taking a group of farmers from different parts of the district for inspecting the quality of works taken up under kudimaramathu in Vadipatti area and Madurai city, the Executive Engineer of Periyar-Vaigai Basin Division, said that it was for the first time that an exercise has been undertaken to totally clear wild growth - removal of karuvela trees (Prosopis juliflora) and other wild growth - from tanks. “We have undertaken this exercise following an unanimous demand put forth by farmers when the works were being selected,” he said.
Besides, the PWD has made a special provision for compacting the sides of the tank bunds, which are being strengthened, using machinery. This would prevent erosion of the bunds during rain. “While the bund top will be wider than the minimum prescribed width of three metres, provision for reversing vehicles such as tractors or PWD inspection vehicles is being done for every 500 metres. This will also help tractors coming from opposite directions to cross each other,” Mr. Subramanian said.
At Keezha Nedungulam, the farmers were shown how the farmers’ association there had reconstructed a damaged supply channel for 800 metres. The channel supplied Periyar water from 3rd Branch canal through the 12th sluice to Keezha Nedungulam, Kalligudi and Athalai.
“The damaged channel led to leakage of water into nearby fields. It neither served them nor us as water would not reach the tanks,” said water users’ association president P. Maharajan.
“We have used the old stones to reconstruct the wall wherever the channel ran below the surface of nearby fields. Wherever the channel bed ran above the surface of farmlands, we used concrete walls to prevent people from making holes for siphoning off water,” Mr. Subramanian said.
In the nearby area, the farmers have cleared jungle growth on the surplus channel of Kondamari bed dam for 3.5 km. “The channel on this stretch has been desilted. We will construct bed bar structures for every 200 metres on the channel to prevent soil erosion,” he added.
At Neerethan, water users’ association president S. Chandrasekar said kudimaramathu helped the farmers realise a four-decade-old dream. “The bed dam remained damaged for three years and water could not be supplied to three tanks. We managed to bypass water through other channel by sharing with farmers of other tanks. Now, water is coming directly to our tank,” he said.
During renovation, sluices are reconstructed or repaired and supply channels desilted, the farmers were told. A section of farmers of Madakulam raised the pending issue of clearing encroachments in Madakulam tank. They wanted to expedite survey of the boundary.
All the works are expected to be completed in another 15 days.
