Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 23, 2007
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Friday, Nov 23, 2007 ePaper |
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Tamil Nadu
Self-help: Sand bags lined up to prevent a breach from the retaining wall of the water inlet channel in Madurapakkam village. TAMBARAM: Residents of a couple of villages near Tambaram recently took an initiative on their own to plug a breach in an important water channel to prevent precious rainwater from going waste. The ‘varappu kaalvai’ (water inlet channel), running through the Madurapakkam, drains rainwater run-off from Vandalur, Tambaram and other areas before draining into the sprawling Ottiyambakkam Lake. Madurapakkam and Ottiyambakkam village panchayats near Tambaram form part of the St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union (also called St. Thomas Mount Block). A retaining wall has been built on one side of this channel in Madurapakkam village, with the Reserve Forest on the other side forming a natural boundary. There is wide breach on the retaining wall and for the past few days, rainwater has been flowing out of the channel. The rainwater meanders through many villages for a long distance before draining into the Buckingham Canal and subsequently, into the Bay of Bengal. Farmers said there were more than 1,500 acres of cultivable land in Ottiyambakkam, Sithalapakkam, Arasankalani and other villages and of them, nearly 700 acres was brought under farming. They were dependant solely on water from the Ottiyambakkam Lake — with an expanse of about 200 acres — for cultivation. If the water continued to drain out of the channel, the Ottiyambakkam lake would not be filled up, they feared. Though they had brought the problem to the attention of officials in the St. Thomas Mount Block Development Office, Public Works Department and the Kancheepuram district administration, there was no response and hence they decided to plug the breach themselves, said Veerababu, a resident of Ottiyambakkam. They had spent Rs.15,000 so far from their pockets and dumped about 2,000 sandbags and the arrangement was only temporary. Wasting no time, officials should act quickly and provide permanent structures to prevent further wastage of precious rain water, they said.
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