Wells to be recharged

Schools, hospitals under Jalasree

Jalasree, the district panchayat’s drinking water scheme, is being expanded to more areas.

Over 1,000 wells in schools and government hospitals will be recharged. Steps will be taken to complete well recharge in January, district panchayat president V.K. Madhu has said. Construction of over 639 farm ponds is in the last stage. As many as 103 farm ponds are being built in Perumkadavila, 104 in Athiyannur, 89 in Vamanapuram, 75 in Vellanad, and 82 in Nemom.

Steps have been taken to start work on another 110 farm ponds by the end of this month.

So far, 763 wells have been recharged as part of the project. As many as 140 big and small public ponds are being restored, while 12,007 rainwater harvesting pits and 2,020 canals have been restored. Check-dams too have been built.

Use of geotextiles for soil and water conservation is under way. Kilimanoor panchayat is in the forefront of the activities.

Training sessions

Mr. Madhu said it has been decided to conduct training at the panchayat level for expert workers so as prevent delay in availability of materials and remove difficulties arising from tender proceedings.

There are also plans to rear 20 lakh fruit tree saplings by June 20. As many as 8.53 lakh saplings have been produced in 290 nurseries in 73 panchayats so far.