The Hindu : Front Page : Let there be no rain, they pray to God

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 12, 2006
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Let there be no rain, they pray to God

Karthik Madhavan

NOT SO PURE: Water gushes out from Orathupalayam Dam. - Photo: M. Govarthan

ORATHAPALAYAM DAM: Farmers in River Noyyal's ayacut are a different lot. Like their counterparts elsewhere in the State they too look up at the sky and listen to weather forecasts. This is neither for bountiful rain nor dams to fill up fast but for rains to stop and Orathapalayam Dam bed to dry. Farmers say they do not want rain because it brings in polluted water, carrying effluents that dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur discharge into the river. They also refuse to carry out farming using the water.

"We do not want to use the river water because it continues to carry effluents from dyeing and bleaching units in and around Tirupur," says V. K. Ganesan, president, Noyyal River-irrigated Farmers Protection Committee. The farmers' body has moved the Madras High Court seeking relief from pollution and the case is on. These farmers stand out from others on another account as well. They have not planted a single crop in about one lakh acres - the land holding of the ayacut farmers. That the one lakh acre has remained barren is not new. "For the last 10 years we have not had any agricultural activity worth mentioning because the effluents from factories have killed the river, lands fed by the river and groundwater as well," rues A. P. Kandasamy, secretary of the association.

The farmers lament that lands have turned infertile. What the farmers now pray for is rains to stop.

"If the rain stop, whatever little water is in the dam will dry fast, enabling the Public Works Department to initiate sludge cleaning work, as suggested by the High Court Expert Committee," say the farmers. With their fingers crossed, they hope the rain will stop so that they can farm, at least by the beginning of next season.

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