Plea to desilt Parakkirama Pandian Kulam

The petitioner villagers said the system tank, providing irrigation for over 1,500 acres of land, was full of silt and thorny bushes as no action has been taken by the Public Works Department for several decades

December 09, 2019 06:09 pm | Updated December 10, 2019 04:05 am IST - TIRUNELVELI

Villagers of Anaithalaiyoor and Vadakarai submitted petitions to Tirunelveli Collector to desilt Parakkirama Pandian Kulam.

Villagers of Anaithalaiyoor and Vadakarai submitted petitions to Tirunelveli Collector to desilt Parakkirama Pandian Kulam.

Villagers of Anaithalaiyoor and Vadakarai near Gangaikondan submitted petitions to Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish on Monday appealing to her to include the Parakkirama Pandian Kulam in the list of waterbodies to be desilted in the next phase of the State Government’s ‘kudimaramathu’ scheme.

The petitioner villagers said Parakkirama Pandian Kulam, a system tank providing irrigation for over 1,500 acres of land where the agriculturists would cultivate paddy, was full of silt and thorny bushes as no desilting was done by the Public Works Department for the past several decades. Though Chittar, which was feeding this tank, experienced flood on various occasions since last July, the Parakkirama Pandian Kulam did not get any water as the feeding channels had been blocked by wild growth, thorny bushes and silt.

Moreover, the inoperable shutters of Chittar Chatthiramkulam, from where Parakkirama Pandian Kulam would get water, were making things worse for the farmers having their ranches under Parakkirama Pandian Kulam. Hence, the Collector should include this irrigation tank under the next phase of ‘kudimaramathu’ works to be carried out in the first quarter of next year so that the desilted waterbody would revive farming operation on over 1,500 acres near Anaithalaiyoor and Vadakarai.

Residents of nearby Rajapathi village submitted petitions seeking construction of wall to save their hamlet from the flood in Chittar. The petitioners said a new bridge to connect Rajapathi with Venkatachalapuram was built recently.

However, the water flowing beneath this bridge to the Sirukulam at Gangaikondan was flowing into Rajapathi village also, housing 700 families from different communities.

Hence, the Collector should inspect the spot and construct walls along both sides of the stream to save Rajapathi from the Chittar river water, they said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.