Thanks to the efforts of Water Resources Department (WRD) and the reasonable quantum of rain as the farming community in Tiruvannamalai is hopeful of cultivating their second crop for the season.
The district administration took up kudimaramathu works in 32 irrigation tanks and 5 anaicuts, spread across 12,213 acres for 2019-20 at an estimated cost of ₹16.07 crore. A villager from Kolathur, Venkatesan, who owns three acres of farm land, said that due the rejuvenation of Kolathur lake, the lower basin areas of Kannamangalam lake, Azhagusenai Lake, Ammapalayam lake and Melpalayam lare received copious water. The works which were completed just before the onset of the last north east monsoon resulted in not only tanks being filled to the brim, but also ensured that farmers could opt for three crops this year due to surplus water , he said.
Recently, water resources wing of Public Works Department (PWD) undertook renovation work on the anaicut at an estimated cost of ₹86 lakh. Melnagar Ravi, another farmer, said that though the rain was little deficient, water was not wasted and it came downstream to areas like Melnagar in Arni taluk due to desilting of outlet channels of irrigation tanks of upstream areas.
