Though heavy rainfall has been predicted and red alert issued for Sunday before onset of north-east monsoon, rainfall the district is going to be blessed with may not be utilised properly since irrigation tanks and channels carrying water to these tanks have not been desilted.
After the district’s western regions, particularly the Western Ghats, experienced good rainfall this year during the south-west monsoon, 8 of the 11 dams including Papanasam and Servalar dams overflowed.
However, most of the water discharged in the Tamirabharani from the dams and in the Chittar was almost wasted as the Public Works Department had not kept ready the system tanks and irrigation channels by desilting them in time though World Bank and ‘kudimaraamathu’ funds were received for this purpose. Water in the Tamirabharani and the Chittar was let into the sea for several days in August even as more than 700 irrigation tanks are bone dry. Farmers allege that all major irrigation channels carrying water from the reservoirs have not been either desilted or desilted properly.
“The PWD awarded the contract for desilting a few channels including the Palayam Channel after water was released from the dam for ‘kar’ paddy cultivation. The contractors used either heavy equipment or tractors to crush water hyacinth grown in the channels but the slush is still there to obstruct free flow of water. However, bills have been passed and their records say that these channels have been desilted,” says P. Velmayil of Communist Party of India.
The Palayam Channel, where water hyacinth is grown abundantly, has not been properly desilted. He alleged that the tanks selected for deepening under the ‘kudimaramaththu’ scheme had been ‘beautified’ instead of deepened.
“After removing the accumulated sand close to the bunds inside the irrigation tank, the removed sand is used to strengthen the bund. No deepening is done. The tank would wear a fresh look while the tank capacity remains the same. All tanks under Gadana Dam, whose bunds were strengthened recently, are in a bad shape after the rain,” he says.