TIRUPPUR: About 50 people gathered at a memorial pillar in Vaniyambadi on Thursday to remember the more than 200 people and 3,000 cattle that perished in the devastating Palar floods on November 12, 1903.
Members of the Palar Pathukappu Iyakkam organised a remembrance rally from the Vaniyambadi bus stand to the memorial pillar, installed by the Vaniyambadi Municipality on November 12, 2025, to mark the tragedy.
On November 12, 1903, heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of the then Mysore State, now Karnataka, caused several lakes in Kolar district to breach, resulting in massive flooding of the Palar river. The floodwaters engulfed Vaniyambadi at midnight, when most residents were asleep. More than 200 people and 3,000 cattle reportedly perished, according to the inscriptions on the memorial pillar.
The disaster drew attention in several countries, including the United States, Australia, Sri Lanka and Britain. The then Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, sent a telegram to the India Office in London about the disaster, while a detailed report was also placed before the British Parliament.
At the site, the British government, through the Vaniyambadi Municipality, had installed a three-sided flood marker pillar indicating that the water level had risen more than five feet above the Maximum Flood Level (MFL).
The 1911 Census of India report on Mysore noted that the 1903-04 season recorded 55.49 inches of rainfall and was remembered for the devastating impact of torrential rain in Kolar district, which swept away nearly the entire series of Palar tanks.
Records of the Madras Presidency Forest Department for 1903-04 also state that around 4,700 cubic feet of timber was supplied free of cost to poor people in Vaniyambadi who had been rendered homeless by the floods.
Speaking to reporters, Eesan Murugasamy, founder of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Protection Association, called for the Palar to be protected from encroachments and demanded an end to the discharge of sewage, solid waste and untreated effluents into the river.
He also urged the centre to constitute a Palar River Tribunal to safeguard Tamil Nadu's water rights over the river and implement the Palar-Thenpennai river-linking project.
Murugasamy also criticised the state environment minister's remark blaming the use of soap and shampoo by the public for the foam in the Noyyal river. He said industrial effluent discharge in the region was a more pressing issue that was not receiving adequate attention. He urged officials and the government's monitoring wing to take strict action to prevent such pollution.