Villagers from various hamlets located around the Paraakkiramapandian irrigation tank near Gangaikondan in the district submitted a petition to Collector M. Karunakaran on Monday seeking immediate desilting and strengthening of the water body.
The petitioners said the historic Paraakkiramapandian irrigation tank, situated on the Tirunelveli – Tuticorin border, was providing succour to over 4,000 acre lands owned by farmers residing in 10 villages. Since the official machinery took no efforts to remove the silt massively collected inside the tank over the years and the acacia grown abundantly within the waterbody, farming operations had been seriously affected.
Utilising this opportunity, a few persons having strong political and community backing, had started their work on converting the once cultivable lands under Paraakkiramapandian irrigation tank into housing plots with the blessings of Local Planning Authority and the local bodies concerned.
As of now, the waterbody, situated under Chittar irrigation scheme, is in a bad shape. Consequently, water cannot be stored in the tank even though Chittar experienced floods in the past.
“When the tank suffered a major breach in 1968 even as Kamaraj was the Chief Minister, he took the initiative to desilt it and strengthen its bunds that improved the groundwater table immensely for a radius of about 15 km. After this incident 47 years have passed. But no step has been taken by the successive governments to renovate it,” said A. Jayaseelan, one of the petitioners. Farmers cannot sell their land under Paraakkiramapandian irrigation tank as these lands had been reclassified as housing plots and hence the buyer had to pay higher stamp duty.
“Hence, the Collector should revoke the permission granted for converting the farmlands into housing plots,” Mr. Jayaseelan said.
Exorbitant fee alleged
A group of polytechnic students from Puliyangudi said their technical educational institution was charging exorbitant fee over and above the fee structure fixed by the State government and the dalit students were being forced to pay the tuition fee even after the government had promised free education for them.
