ERODE: The Water Resources Department (WRD) has opposed the dumping of garbage on the banks of the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) Canal by local body administrations.
A complaint has been filed with the police on behalf of the WRD in this regard against a local body administration, the Kurumandur Village Panchayat, in Erode district on September 17.
The 197-kilometre-long LBP Canal caters to an extensive ayacut area of 2,07,000 acres, providing water to thousands of farmers who rely on it for cultivation and livelihood.
Farmers benefiting from this canal have been continuously requesting the WRD to take appropriate action to prevent civic bodies from dumping garbage on the banks of the canal and also into it.
M Dinesh Kumar, Assistant Engineer of WRD, in his complaint to the Kadathur police, said, "The Kurumandur village panchayat administration has dumped garbage on the left bank of the LBP Canal in Kurumandur. This will interfere with the inspection of the canal banks. There is also a possibility of water contamination. Letters have already been sent to the local body administration several times against the practice. As garbage is repeatedly dumped on the canal banks, legal action should be taken."
The Kadathur police are investigating the complaint.
Meanwhile, a WRD official said a letter was written to the Elathur Town Panchayat administration on behalf of the WRD, urging them to take steps to prevent the dumping of garbage on the banks of the LBP canal.
He also said the WRD has been forced to file a complaint with the police as the local body administrations don't take appropriate steps.
A senior official of the rural development department said, "The local body administration removed the garbage dumped on the banks of the canal in Kurumandur after the complaint. There are separate segregation centres in village panchayats for waste management. However, in some panchayats like Kurumandur the public is opposed to dumping garbage at those centres.
Currently, garbage from Kurumandur is sent to the segregation centre of a nearby panchayat. In addition, some elderly sanitation workers unknowingly dump garbage on the banks of the canal. Appropriate instructions in this regard will be given to the local body administrations."