Plea to desilt Parakkirama Pandian Kulam

TIRUNELVELI

Villagers of Anaithalaiyoor and Vadakarai near Gangaikondan submitted petitions to Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish on Monday appealing to her to include the Parakkirama Pandian Kulam in the list of waterbodies to be desilted in the next phase of the State Government’s ‘kudimaramathu’ scheme.

The petitioner villagers said Parakkirama Pandian Kulam, a system tank providing irrigation for over 1,500 acres of land where the agriculturists would cultivate paddy, was full of silt and thorny bushes as no desilting was done by the Public Works Department for the past several decades. Though Chittar, which was feeding this tank, experienced flood on various occasions since last July, the Parakkirama Pandian Kulam did not get any water as the feeding channels had been blocked by wild growth, thorny bushes and silt.

Moreover, the inoperable shutters of Chittar Chatthiramkulam, from where Parakkirama Pandian Kulam would get water, were making things worse for the farmers having their ranches under Parakkirama Pandian Kulam. Hence, the Collector should include this irrigation tank under the next phase of ‘kudimaramathu’ works to be carried out in the first quarter of next year so that the desilted waterbody would revive farming operation on over 1,500 acres near Anaithalaiyoor and Vadakarai.

Residents of nearby Rajapathi village submitted petitions seeking construction of wall to save their hamlet from the flood in Chittar. The petitioners said a new bridge to connect Rajapathi with Venkatachalapuram was built recently.

However, the water flowing beneath this bridge to the Sirukulam at Gangaikondan was flowing into Rajapathi village also, housing 700 families from different communities.

Hence, the Collector should inspect the spot and construct walls along both sides of the stream to save Rajapathi from the Chittar river water, they said.