Thanjavur district’s monitoring officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi on Tuesday said tanks in all villages would be desilted under kudimaramathu and Chief Ministers’ Special Desilting Scheme.
Disclosing this to the media after inspecting works under way at Orathanadu and Pattukottai blocks, Mr. Bedi said desilting and bund strengthening of village tanks in the district would be taken up at a cost of ₹1 lakh each in order to revive them as groundwater recharging facility.
By taking up desilting and other additional works, the number of workers engaged under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) would go up by another 23,000 from the present 77,000. This would ensure that all farm labourers benefited from MGNREGS during the pandemic situation.
Nearly 70% of the works taken up under the two schemes had been completed. In order to complete the remaining work, it had been proposed to bring 300 earthmovers from neighbouring districts in addition to the 260 machines already pressed into service in the district.
As many as 165 desilting works were taken up under CMSDS at a cost of ₹22.92 crore and 109 under MGNREGS at an outlay of ₹35.38 crore to ensure smooth flow of water through the irrigation channels during the current season.