The absence of a comprehensive scheme or plan to restore and rejuvenate water bodies and resort to temporary solutions is the reason the State witness drought, MDMK Youth Wing secretary V. Eswaran has said.
Sharing images of a damaged check dam across the Manja Pallam rivulet in Kuniamuthur, he said that though he had been writing to the Chief Minister and the PWD authorities to repair or reconstruct damaged check dams, there had been no response.
He had first taken up the issue of the damaged check dams in January and June last year and later in August staged a protest at Kurumbapalayam. His enquiries with the PWD authorities had revealed that though they send proposals to the Government, they execute works only based on the funds received.
The Government’s cavalier approach towards water management should be seen in the backdrop of the interest it showed in acquiring land for taking up the Salem-Chennai green corridor project. Besides, it approach paled in comparison to what the Telangana government was doing in the State.
Mr. Eswaran also said the State Government should look at reviving and rejuvenating all the 39,202 tanks in the State and not allot ₹100 crore or so to solve the crisis on hand. Such an approach would only lead to repetition of the problems, he further said and added that if the PWD authorities did not repair the check dams across the rivulet, the party would soon stage a protest.