Though Tiruthuraipoondi town is endowed with many tanks, their maintenance leaves much to be desired. The municipal town with 24 wards, accounts for 32 tanks, most of which are in a bad condition.
Many of the tanks had catered to the drinking water requirements of the residents in the past but have now been polluted heavily. Local residents said that Ramar Madakulam or popularly known as Ramarkulam, Uppukulam, Tirukulam, and Sengamalakulam are some of the major tanks which once catered to the drinking water needs of the people.
J. Balasubramanian, one the residents, said that the tanks were being used as a dumping yard for garbage and hospital wastes. “Hospital waste, which are hazardous to health, are being dumped into the Sengamalakulam,” said P. Muthu and Nabi, who have drawn public attention to the issue through social media. “We have uploaded the details of Sengamalakulam and its condition even on Facebook,” they said.
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“The tank had been beautifully designed and the surplus waterduring floods is automatically discharged through the outlets and channels all around it. But, all these outlets had been choked and the channels had been silted up by encroachers,” they said. The youth have submitted a petition to the officials pleading for proper upkeep and maintenance of all the tanks in the town taking advantage of the drought now.
Municipal sources said the town accounted for about 40 tanks including eight belonging to religious institutions. The Ramarkulam, for instance, is one such tank which belonged to Sri Ramar temple. However, the municipality extended its co-operation whenever the temple authorities took up work on cleaning it.
The municipality had recently executed some dredging and cleaning work at Chekkadikulam in Ward 19. The tanks such as Thenikulam in Ward 15, and the Nandavanakulam in Ward 5 have dried up due to lack of rains.
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