Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami informed the Assembly on Monday that desilting work would be taken up in 1,829 lakes during 2019-20, and ₹499 crore had been allocated for the purpose.

Responding to DMK leader Durai Murugan’s query, Mr. Palaniswami disclosed the number of lakes where desilting work was carried out under the scheme over the past three years.

“In 2016-17, the desilting of 1,519 lakes was taken up, of which work on 1,513 lakes has been completed. Work on the remaining six could not be carried out due to internal problems of the farmers’ associations there. In 2017-18, 1,511 lakes were chosen for desilting, and 1,406 of them have been cleaned so far. Again, the remaining lakes have not been cleaned due to problems in the farmers’ associations,” Mr. Palaniswami said.

The Chief Minister said that under the Kudimaramathu scheme, the local farmers and common people were involved in cleaning up the lakes, as “there is a possibility that even if a tender is floated, the work might not be done properly”.

Mr. Palaniswami said Balaji, a special officer of IAS cadre, had been appointed to oversee the work, and was conducting a review of the scheme’s implementation in all districts.