The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Dharmapuri News : Works on for watershed development

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 17, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Dharmapuri

Works on for watershed development

By Our Staff Reporter

DHARMAPURI, SEPT. 16. The district administration has taken effective steps for watershed development through wasteland reclamation and other related measures to improve the groundwater level, said the Collector, Ashish Vachhani.

He said that Dharmapuri was the leading district in the State in implementing watershed development activities in coordination with the Central and State governments. This would help in conservation of soil and moisture.

The Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) and Integrated Wasteland Development Programme is presently being implemented in 88 watersheds in the blocks of Dharmapuri, Nallampalli, Pennagaram, Palacode, Karimangalam, Morapur and Harur covering an area of 44,000 hectares.

Naagarkoodal model

Naagarkoodal, a small village located at Nallampalli block in Dharmapuri district, was selected from 2001 to 2006 to implement the programme at an estimated Rs. 30 lakhs. The total area of the watershed is 1,105 hectares with the area under treatment alone accounting for 642 hectares.

Most of the people working in the watershed were agricultural labourers who have been divided into 12 user groups. As many as 16 self-help groups and six watershed development groups have also been formed for selecting development works, implementing and monitoring.

People's participation

He said that by implementing the programme with people's participation, need-based works were taken up on a priority basis and it also ensured quality work.

Major activities in the watershed include construction of two checkdams benefiting an area of around 32 hectares.

As many as 154 loose boulder checkdams, 420 metres of stone wall, 356 hectares of contour bunding, 14 sunken ponds and four percolation ponds were also constructed in the watershed for augmenting the groundwater level.

Jatropha planted

Around 5,000 saplings of Jatropha were planted in wastelands and these would be maintained by the SHGs. Training, technical know-how and financial assistance would be provided to the groups for extraction of oil and the development of the nursery.

Health and veterinary camps were conducted benefiting 421 persons and 876 cattle respectively.

Plans are afoot to replicate the Naagarkoodal model in other watersheds in the district, he added.

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Works on for watershed development