CHENNAI: Anaikattucheri, a seemingly nondescript village close to Pattabiram in Tiruvallur district, is one of the few villages along which a cleaner version of Chennai’s Cooum River passes through. And the uniqueness of the village doesn’t end here. Its natural geographical location made it possible for water from the river to flow through the neighbouring 12 villages, keeping agriculture alive. But now, people native to the village, have given up farming altogether and are forced to buy water.
Why? Over the last 20 years, the village has lost its water bodies and more importantly — its numerous water channels — to rampant sand mining, unregulated construction activity and dumping of garbage. A visit to the village by Express confirmed this. Water bodies which were brimming with fresh water from the Cooum, now lie dry and interconnecting channels to other lakes having gone missing. As a result, the village which got sweet tasting ground water at 17 ft five years ago, is scrounging to draw water even from 35 ft now.
Uncurbed sand mining
The 72-kilometre long river which is more of a carrier of sewage than water in urban Chennai, is still free of pollutants to a large extent from the Cooum Village till Parthipet in Tiruvallur district. But due to unchecked sand mining, large portions of sand have been removed by private players. Villages hardest hit by this menace are Ramapuram, Chithukadu and parts of Kannanpalayam and Sorancheri coming under Poonamallee Taluk of Tiruvallur district. “In Chithukadu alone, sand from 75 acres of temple land belonging to the government has been removed. The Cooum bed has gone down by 50 ft. Even if it rains, there is hardly any sand for the water to percolate to the water table,” said a native from Ramapuram village.
Along the river’s bunds and bed, sand has been taken out even till 100 ft depth in some places. Because of this, in Ramapuram village, three kilometres from Anaikattucheri, clear water from the river is stagnant with no path for it to flow.
Villagers said that as officials have not put a stop to this illegal activity, channels that connect one lake to another and the ones that bring water from the Cooum, have disappeared. “Water bodies in Sorancheri, Vayalanallur, Kollapancheri, Parivakkam and Amudurmedu villages used to interconnect in a beautiful manner. Once the Cooum River fills up after good rains, these lakes will automatically get filled up. Because of this arrangement, none of the villages here ever faced an issue of water shortage,” said a farmer from Anaikattucheri, who didn’t want to be named.
An official from the Revenue department said that sand mining activities have been reduced, if not entirely stopped, in the last 10 months. During September 2018, a group of people were caught red-handed by officials for trying to smuggle river sand from the Cooum, added the official. “People from other villages and some groups from the City, mine sand especially to supply for construction and brick kilns. One lorry load of sand is sold for `25,000. And a majority of villages from where sand is smuggled, are sparsely populated. We coordinate with PWD and local Panchayat to watch out for miscreants,” said the official.
Story of Anaikattucheri
Though all villages through which the clean Cooum flows, have been badly affected by sand mining, Anaikattucheri village has suffered the most.
The village which now houses 500 families, originally got its name after the State government built a check-dam or Anaicut in the 1970s to divert water for irrigation. Though there were other villages which had check-dams as well, Anaikattucheri stood apart from the rest because of its geographical location. The original flow of the Cooum was disrupted at this spot and the check-dam in this village made it possible to divert the river so that its water flowed to 12 other villages around Anaikattucheri.
“When the government started building the Anaicut, one member from each family in Anaikattucheri volunteered to help them. The Eri in Thirunindravur filled up after this structure was built. Similarly, so many other water bodies in neighbouring panchayats got water and hence agriculture flourished,” said 95-year-old Kandaswamy Naicker, a farmer from Ramapuram village.
Now, 20 years later, the lakes lie bone-dry as all the linkages between them and the Cooum have vanished. Lakes in Sorancheri, Vayalanallur, Kolappancheri, Parivakkam, Amadurmedu, Karunakaracheri, Banaveduthottam, and Melpakkam have lost channels that interconnect them and are now solely dependent on rainfall.
Moreover, as the river which initially flowed through the village has dried-up, its empty banks are being used as dumping grounds for garbage. “According to revenue records, there were 14 water bodies only in Anaikattucheri. But most of them have disappeared. People with strong political clout are even selling major portions of the river bed for real estate,” said Mugundhan K, a local activist and a native of Anaikattucheri.
He said that on the Westside of Parthipet where the Cooum is devoid of pollution, people extract drinking water via borewells installed along the river banks. “If the clean part of the Cooum is protected and its channels are restored, groundwater table will be recharged such that it can supply water for the city. Multiple check-dams must be built along the Cooum, sewage flow into the river must be stopped and encroachments must be removed,” said Mugundhan.
A senior official from the Public Works Department said that the Anaicut built by the State government in 1970s, was weakened by floods in 1940s and 1960s and was totally destroyed during the floods in 1995. Recently, the Water Resource Department had planned to rebuilt this check-dam in Anaikattucheri at a cost of `20 crore. Officials from the department said that the Detailed Project Report was being prepared for the same and work is slated to start by June and will be completed in three months.