Farmers have begun taking the top soil of Minnal lake at Serumangalam in Mannargudi taluk for fertigation of their fields.
Inaugurating the exercise on Saturday, Food Minister, R.Kamaraj called upon the ryots to make best use of the permission granted by the State government to infuse fertility into their agriculture fields with the alluvial soil offered free of cost from the 82 hectare spread of Minnal lake.
A sum of ₹ 16.8 crore had been allocated for Tiruvarur district under `kudimaramathu’ scheme this year for taking up the maintenance of waterbodies, he added.
The Collector, T.Anand and other officials took part in the function on the lake bed.