The State government in coordination with citizens, self-help groups and farmer associations will clean up waterbodies under the Kudimaramathu scheme, which includes strengthening of the bunds and weeding out plants.
Minister for Commercial Taxes K.C. Veeramani inaugurated the desiliting of Nangamangalam lake in Nemili block of Ranipet district on Wednesday, under the Kudimaramathu scheme.
Ranipet Collector S. Divyadharshini said there are 369 lakes in the district and 71 have been rejuvenated with an allocated fund of Rs.12.60 crore in three phases so far. Agricultural lands to the extent of 9,038.87 hectares have benefitted due to these rejuvenation works, she said. During the year 2020-21, 24 lakes have been chosen to be rejuvenated at a cost of Rs.9.15 crore with help from ayacutdars (farmers teams), she said.
According to the officials of the water resources department, under this scheme, 42.13 km of bunds would be strengthened and 96.23 km of channels would be desilted.
In addition to these works, repairs would be undertaken in 27 sluices and 16 sluices would be reconstructed to streamline water disposal from the lakes. Repairs on 27 weirs would also be undertaken as part of the scheme, which would benefit 3,163.37 hectares of farm lands, said an official.
A resident of the Nemili village, R. Sivaguru said, “These lakes, that once supplied water for three courses of farming in the region, have dried up now, due to repeated monsoon failures.”
“Sand deposits near channel mouths have affected water supply to the lakes. Deepening the lakes further would increase its storage capacity, which would help farmers taking up cultivation, besides improving the ground water level and quality,” he suggested. MLAs G. Sampath and S. Ravi and PWD (WRD) Executive Engineer M. Shanmugam and other officials participated in the inauguration.
