Farmers in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Ranipet and Tirupattur have reasons to be cheerful as nearly 50% of all waterbodies, especially irrigation tanks, reached their full capacity on Wednesday.
Together, these four districts have a total of 4,167 waterbodies, including 1,119 Minor Irrigation tanks maintained by the Public Works Department (PWD) and other waterbodies like ponds, lakes and uranis maintained by the Rural Development Department.
Among the four districts, Tiruvannmalai has the highest number of waterbodies (1,886), including 600 irrigation tanks maintained by the PWD. It is followed by Ranipet district with 1,718 waterbodies including 369 PWD-maintained tanks. “We are continuously monitoring the situation, especially along Palar river, closely. So far, 39 persons have been moved to temporary shelters in the district,” Vellore Collector P. Kumaravel Pandian told The Hindu.
Apart from 50% of the waterbodies in the district that reached full capacity, another 10% waterbodies reached 75% of their total capacity on Wednesday.
Eight head of cattle, mostly milch cows, and four persons have died in Vellore and Ranipet since November 1. Crop damage in these districts is being assessed. On Wednesday, 38 rain-affected Irular families in Vellore and Ranipet, living along the Palar, were rehabilitated in government-run shelters having basic facilities like blankets, clothes and stainless steel utensils. Collectors were instructed to issue pattas to these families for houses constructed under centrally-sponsored schemes. Officials said that in Tirupattur, a special education loan mela was organised by the district administration and ₹4.05 crore was disbursed to 113 economically weak students.
