TIRUCHY: Even as desilting work in canals and waterbodies are being carried out by Water Resources Department across the district, farmers allege that silt and water hyacinth have not been cleared fully from certain stretches of Uyyakondan canal. This could obstruct water flow and affect irrigation during the upcoming cultivation season, they rued.
The state government has approved 1,161 desilting works covering 5,955 kilometres of rivers, canals, irrigation channels, and drainage channels in the Cauvery delta region at a total cost of Rs 125 crore.
In Tiruchy district alone, 112 works covering 314.34 kilometres have been approved at a cost of Rs 15.49 crore. These include 62 works under the river conservation division, covering 226.53 km at a cost of Rs 9.24 crore, and 50 works under the Ariyar basin division, covering 87.81 km at a cost of Rs 6.25 crore, officials said.
According to officials, the works began in March and 95% of the 112 approved works have been completed. Once these canals and waterways are fully desilted, about 8,835 acres of farmland will benefit, they added. However, farmers alleged that accumulated silt and water hyacinth have not been fully removed from the riverbed. This will block flow of water, preventing it from reaching the tail-end areas in time for irrigation, said Vayalur N Rajendran, state treasurer of the farmers’ wing of Tamil Maanila Congress.
“Desilting has been done where the Uyyakondan canal flows through villages such as Ettarai, Koppu, Pulivalam, Kodiyalam, and Analai in Tiruchy district. However, silt and hyacinth have not been cleared from the middle of the canal in more than 15 spots,” Rajendran alleged.
V Ayyavu, a farmer from Kodiyalam, said farmers their repeated requests with workers to clear all the silt have gone in vain.
When contacted, Executive Engineer of RC Division A Nithiyanandan denied the allegations, saying only the cleared hyacinth have been left in the middle of the canal to be set ablaze once they are dry.
“We have desilted almost all canals and waterbodies. Only some stretches in the Uyyakondan canal and a few canals in the Musiri block remain to be attended to. However, everything will be completed within a few days,” he said.
