Tamil Nadu - Erode   

Work to plug breach in LBP Canal begins

ERODE: Public Works Department officials led workers on Tuesday morning to plug the breach in the Lower Bhavani Project Canal at the fifty-ninth mile fourth furlong at Chinniampalayam village.

Executive Engineer, PWD, Erode, H.J. Nanjan said the Department had engaged about 500 labourers in the work, which would be carried out in two phases.

“The first phase of the work is to re-divert the water flow in to the canal, so that work for rebuilding the damaged portion on the left bank be carried out.”

Assistant Executive Engineer S. Kumarasamy, who is supervising the work at the spot, said in the first phase the Department had asked the workers to erect support structures with casurina. “The workers will put up two such structures at a foot’s distance each from one end of the breached place to another. When the structures are in place, the Department will instruct the workers to fill with sand bags the one foot gap.”

The Engineer said the structure, when completed, would arrest the flow of water through the crevice and re-divert it to the canal.

Mr. Nanjan said the Department’s would require around 15,000 bags to re-divert the water.

The second phase of the work, he explained, was to reconstruct the canal, the gap in which was around 35m long.

“We have marshalled all resources at hand to fill the gap, for which the Department requires 2,000 tractor loads of clay and gravel. The clay is being sourced from the Vellode lake and gravel from the Department lands in the district.”

Mr. Kumarasamy said the workers would remove earth at both ends of the breached bank in such a way that it resembled a flight of stairs, so that when the clay and gravel were being filled, the new and old earth bonded well.

He added, the clay would be filled first and then gravel so that the clay held together the gravel.

Mr. Nanjan said in the department’s estimate the work would be completed before Wednesday evening and only thereafter water released.

He said the reconstruction work would cost nearly Rs. 10 lakh.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Farmers hit by canal breach demand compensation
Protest
Work to plug breach in LBP Canal begins

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu