MADURAI : The Agro Food Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Friday hailed the judgment pronounced by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directing the state to open a dedicated website containing an exhaustive list of all the waterbodies in Tamil Nadu. In a release, S Rethinavelu, founder and president of the Agro Food Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that farmers regularly confront two major problems -- water availability for irrigation and marketing of produce at profitable prices. In order to address these two issues, the agro food chamber had recently constituted a forum 'Water shed to Market shed' and also gave suggestions regarding the same at the pre-budget meeting for the agri-budget, the release read.
"We suggested that all natural waterbodies like lakes, ponds, tanks, rivers among others, and their supply channels should be identified and restored by removing encroachments, with the participation of local agri communities, and thereby ensure full water storage during the rainy season. In this venture, the mode of Public Private Participation (PPP) should also be adopted along with CSR funds, wherever possible," he added.
Meanwhile, it is noteworthy to mention that nearly 60% of the irrigation tanks in Tamil Nadu were not even half-filled, in spite of the state receiving around 33 cm of rainfall in October and November, 2023. Encroachments and obstructions in the channels, which supply water to the tanks, were identified as the major reasons for the same.
Considering the present scenario, we are extremely jubilant that high court has come to the rescue of farmers in ensuring water availability, pointing out that water bodies belong to the society. The visionary judgement, by justices GR Swaminathan and B Pugalendhi of the division bench, directing the state government to create a dedicated website on waterbodies within six months, will ensure proper rainwater harvesting without wastage. Hence, we are very confident that there will not be any necessity to plead for irrigation water from other states anymore, Rethinavelu added.