KRISHNAGIRI: Over 60 villagers from Bettamugilalam panchayat staged a road blockade near the Iyyur forest check post against the forest department urging them to grant permission to work on the open wells and borewells in their panchayat on Thursday.
T Vinu Kumar (30), a resident of Kalliyur village and one of the protesters, told TNIE, “All of a sudden the forest department has stopped us from sinking new borewells or open wells. Also, permissions for any renovation works on the already dug open wells were denied. They are asking us to get permission from the Hill Area Conservation Authority (HACA) to carry out such work. With summer setting in, and with the already present water scarcity, crops like beans, tomatoes, and roses are getting affected. The forest and revenue departments had invited us for a meeting on Monday assuring that permission would be granted within a day to deepen the existing open well, but so far nothing has been done.”
He added, “I have lost around `60,000 in chrysanthemum cultivation due to water scarcity. It was meant to be harvested this month on my one-acre land. Also, out of the 48 villages from Bettamugilalam panchayat, over 35 of them reside on the hilltop and many people are cultivating rain-fed crops and are hardly cultivating cash crops. Now, the water table has also decreased due to the summer.”
He further said, “Permission for borewell or open well should not be granted for outsiders who have bought land in our village and surrounding areas.” They blocked Denkanikottai to Bettamugilalam road for almost an hour leading to traffic congestion. After Denkanikottai police held talks with them and assured to solve the issue, they dispersed from the spot.
When Hosur forest division wildlife warden K Karthikeyani was contacted, she said, “Some villages in Bettamugilalam panchayat come under the eco-sensitive zone. Hence, they should get permission to sink a new borewell or open a well in their village and for any other agriculture-related activities. So far, 75 applications have been received for an open well and borewell-related issues.”
“A district-level monitoring committee meeting for the eco-sensitive zone was convened at Krishnagiri Collectorate on Thursday evening. It was chaired by Krishnagiri Collector K M Sarayu. Permission will be granted for about 30 applications on Friday and applications with lack of documents and the applications of non-natives who bought a land and have applied for borewell will be rejected,” Karthikeyani explained.