The Public Works Department is understandably seized of the pollution at Perumpallam canal that once had an ayacut of 3,045 acres in Lakhapuram and surroundings and served as a drinking water source for quite a few local bodies, but now presents a pathetic sight, carrying industrial effluents and sewage waste.
According to official sources, a proposal has been forwarded to the government for special funding to desilt the harnessing canal. The Keel Bhavani Murai Neer Pasana Vivasayigal Sabai will shortly make a representation to the district administration to back the proposal, it is learnt.
The canal starting off from the anicut at Surampatti that was commissioned during 1966 at the initiative of the then Erode MLA late Dakshinamoorthy Gounder of Congress used to irrigate farms and recharge aquifer in and around Surampatti, Kasipalayam, Pachapali and Lakkapuram. The then government’s sanction and execution of the anicut project to hold seepage from Lower Bhavani Project canal was made possible due to the late MLA’s keenness to serve farmers.
But, over the decades, the continuity of the irrigation canal became a casualty due to rampant encroachment. Dumping of wastes and overgrowth of shrubs have clogged the canal. Several hundreds of houses have come up along the canal, most of them with pattas and power connection. Farmers have been protesting against the encroachments and expecting the PWD to desilt the canal to revive its utility. In the past, farmers had by themselves cleared thorns and bushes blocking the canal, but say removal of silt from the canal by PWD as a large-scale initiative was necessary for making the water body useful for irrigation.
Removal of encroachments that have come up in the water storage area of the anicut, though desirable, does not seem possible due to political factors. At least, the scope for setting right the canal must be explored, says D. Sengottuvel (68), the late MLA’s son, who has mobilised the farmers’ organisations to revive the utility of the anicut and the canal.
A functional status for the canal will pave the way for resumption of agricultural activities in the remaining cultivable land. More importantly, the drinking water problem of localities on either side of the canal will be addressed, Mr. Sengottuvel says.
