THENI: Minister CTR Nirmal Kumar said desilting of Vaigai dam in Theni will begin in a few months. He inspected the Vaigai Dam on Saturday and held a review meeting with officials on the current status of the water level.
After inspecting the dam, Nirmal Kumar told reporters, “The administration aims to commence the desilting within the next two months once all the formal procedures are completed. It was found that 18-20 percent of the dam was filled with sand and mud. The state government has submitted requests to the Centre seeking environmental clearance to take up desilting work.”
“The dam has never been desilted since its inauguration in 1959, though in the past the state government had sent a proposal to desilt it. As the desilting of the entire dam would take more than nine years, we have decided to remove the sand formation and sand dunes in some sections of the dam. Besides, we have decided to allow deposition of the silt near the water catchment areas of the dam,” the minister further said.