Drive to identify and rehabilitate tanks

Sufficient funds have been sanctioned to carry out the work

May 18, 2017 07:16 am | Updated 07:16 am IST - KARUR

A tank being desilted.

A tank being desilted.

The district administration has embarked upon a major drive to identify and rehabilitate all major and minor tanks in the district.

The size of many tanks are said to have shrunk due to encroachment and lack of maintenance for long. “It is high time to identify all these tanks including minor and village ponds. I have instructed revenue, rural development and public works department to revisit revenue records so as to identify them immediately,” Collector K. Govindaraj told The Hindu .

Apart from 18 PWD tanks and 108 minor irrigation tanks, it was said that there were 401 small and village ponds in the district. It had to be verified whether the revenue records had information on more tanks. There was a need to verify the size of all tanks with revenue records. It would enable the officials to mark boundaries in order to bring back tanks to their actual size and clear encroachments, if any.

Mr. Govindaraj said that he had inspected major tanks such as Veerarakiyam, Panjapatti, Uppidamangalam, Vellianai, Santhapatti, Pethachikulam and Thathampalayam. The inlet and outlet channels and water ways would be revisited to desilt them.

Similarly, jungle streams that carry water to tanks and village tanks would be identified and desilted. Services of workers of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme would be utilised wherever necessary.

He said that Thogamalai and Kadavur blocks had many minor irrigation and village tanks. There were many private tanks too. Nine tanks in Thogamalai blocks such as Nallakumaran Pillaikulam, Kalmadaikulam, Senkulam, Manickappagounder kuttai, Naicker kulam, Ellaikuttai, Kadumukkagounder kuttai, Periyakulam and Chinnakulam would be rehabilitated at a cost of ₹1.62 crore.

Mr. Govindaraj said that some of the tanks were not desilted for so long. The rehabilitation works had begun. Besides strengthening bunds and deepening tanks, inlet and outlet channels would be cleared. Construction of sluices was part of the scheme.

Administrative sanction had been given to rehabilitation of four more tanks such as Mandhaikulam, Vagaikulam, Kaligounderkulam and Vengatachalamgounder kuttai. A sum of ₹97 lakh had been earmarked for the project.

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