THOOTHUKUDI: Farmers of Pattinamaruthur village staged a protest at the collectorate on Thursday demanding action against the officials of the civic and water resources department who allegedly removed the shutters of an irrigation tank, which has caused the unnecessary discharge of water to other tanks and lack of irrigation in the farmlands in the Tharuvaikulam area.
The protestors, led by advocate Larens, said that the excess water from the Pattinamaruthur tank, which irrigates over 300 acres of paddy, banana, minor millets, and vegetables, overflows into the Tharuvaikulam tank before merging with the sea. "The shutters of the Pattinamaruthur tank were broken and removed by unidentified persons, which are currently placed at Tharuvaikulam panchayat office. The panchayat president Kadalodi is hand in glove with the WRO officials in the issue," they alleged.
They further stated that due to the absence of the shutter, the water drains out of the tank in an uncontrolled manner, affecting the cultivation in the area. "The Tharuvaikulam tank area, which has numerous salt pans and hardly any agricultural lands, does not utilise the freshwater that flows into it from Pattinamaruthur tank," they added.