VELLORE: Civic chiefs from the Upper Palar belt are demanding that the state government initiate steps to bring artificial rains to the parched Vellore district by tapping the clouds.
Rajasekaran, of Sathuvachari said, ‘This year even during monsoon we are forced to hunt for water.” The district administration has imposed restrictions on the sale of water by private vendors while the corporation itself is unable to supply water to meet demand, he added.
“I still remember the days when we used to fetch water from the numerous ponds in and around Vellore for our daily needs,” noted Sadasivam, a retired government employee. He said, between Sathuvachari and Perumugai village on the highway, there were least some 50 ponds on both sides of the road.
Out of the 3000 tanks in the district, except those in the eastern part not many have even 10 percent water. A Asokan, secretary of the Organization for Environment Protection and Social Development said that while the state government has been pitching the concept of rainwater harvesting as a people’s movement, it should focus on reviving the parched water bodies and the drinking water works that have lost the water retention capacity, using appropriate technology.
Instead of allowing sinking of new wells and bore wells for drinking water, the district administration should focus on reviving the existing defunct ones to rejuvenate the underground water table as a whole, he added.
Meanwhile parts of the district received moderate to heavy rainfall on Monday evening, bringing a little respite to the water starved region. Vellore city received the maximum rainfall of 47.80 mm followed by Kaveripakkam (40.20), Sholingur (28), Arakkonam (17.80), Arcot (15.80), Wallajah (14), Alangayam [10.80), Vaniyambadi (9.40), Ambur (7), Tirupattur [5.10), Melalathur (2.20).
The average rainfall recorded in Vellore this season is 16.51mm.