THANJAVUR: Like an abandoned battlefield post-war, the farmlands in Peravurani lay in peril with rows after rows of uprooted coconut trees all over. The 2018 cyclone Gaja had left behind in its wake an oppressive silence and a long trail of destruction. In Thanjavur district alone, the cyclone uprooted nearly 45 lakh coconut trees, and the Peravurani area was among the worst-hit.
The 46-year-old Karthikeyan Velsamy from Peravurani and a group of young volunteers, who distributed relief materials to people in around 40 cyclone-hit villages, were in deep shock. “What we saw was farmers, primarily dependent on coconut cultivation, were in utter despair,” said Karthikeyan. “With their livelihoods lost, many were contemplating moving out of the villages in search of alternative jobs,” he said when describing the inflexion point that pushed him and his like-minded friends towards a path of restoration.
The young volunteers, along with the village elders, veteran farmers and retired officials from the agriculture and police departments, banded together to rebuild the livelihoods of the farmers. After careful consideration, the team settled on rejuvenating waterbodies in the area, beginning with its largest lake —Periya Urani sprawling 564 acres—on the outskirts of the town, which is named after the lake.
Amid a cloud of scepticism, the team initiated the desilting work on June 14, 2019, by renting an earthmover with the Rs 25,000 they had collected in total, Rs 2,500 per person, as a lifetime membership for their newly constituted non-profit—Kadaimadai Area Integrated Farmers Association (KAIFA). The members registered their association on July 3, 2019. More financial aid started trickling in as news of their work spread across villages and on social media, with the residents of a nearby village using the lake as their water source donating Rs 1.5 lakh — Rs 500 per household— and a Peravurani native, residing in the USA, donating Rs 1 lakh. At a total cost of Rs 23 lakh, the KAIFA completed desilting the Peravurani lake.
Karthikeyan, also the president of KAIFA, said his team did not consider taking up another project until they were met with words of appreciation from Madras High Court Justice R Suresh Kumar, who was confident they would go on to rejuvenate over 100 waterbodies. Five years on, the team, which now has 75-lifetime members and around 450 general members, has desilted and rejuvenated 230 waterbodies, including lakes, ponds and canals, in Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Tiruchy, Ariyalur and Dindigul districts, though a majority of which belonged to the first two.
While the team was knee-deep in the restoration of Periya Urani Lake, their first project, a leading dairy product manufacturer from Erode caught wind of their work through news reports and reached out to them. Shortly after the industrialist learnt that renting earthmovers constituted the bulk of the team’s expenditure, the team was astounded to find a brand-new piece of heavy machinery gifted to them as a token of appreciation. As demands to desilt waterbodies started pouring in, the team, via an online crowdfunding platform, raised money to purchase their second earthmover.
The team prioritises projects based on request seniority. After surveying and assessing, they desilt the waterbody and inlet canals, strengthen bunds, and plant palm saplings to prevent erosion. “Every gramme of soil desilted strengthens bunds, creating mounds for Miyawaki forests,” says Prabakaran, whose IT background now blends with civil engineering expertise gained through these projects. Prabhakaran explained that villagers contribute diesel for the machinery, making them active stakeholders in the project. While he covers the operator’s wages, villagers provide their daily allowance.
R Tamilmani of Alathur near Pattukkottai said KAIFA, based on the residents’ request, desilted five ponds in their village. He attributed the recharging of groundwater in the area and the condition of the ponds brimming with water to the non-profit’s work. K Pandiayan of Tiruthiyamalai near Musiri in Tiruchy district said the KAIFA desilted a 156-acre lake in their village and its seven-and-a-half-kilometre-long inlet canal. “Though the water is yet to reach the lake, it has begun flowing through the inlet canal that has 30 check dams in between the forest area where it originates and the lake,” he added.
The team has set itself an ambitious goal of desilting 1,000 waterbodies in the state. It is, at present, amid rounds of consultation with the Tiruchy district administration regarding the desilting of ponds in the district. Recognising their efforts, the state has conferred on them the “2023 Green Champion Award,” presented by Thanjavur Collector B Priyanka Pankajam during the Independence Day celebrations this year.
Much like Kafka Tamura, Murakami’s young protagonist, the team of young volunteers who had walked into the storm, has emerged triumphant. The process of healing the wounds is successfully underway.
(Edited by Thamizhamudhan Sekar)