Desilting of canals begins in Trichy

Trichy: Minister for municipal administration K N Nehru inaugurated the desliting of irrigation rivers, canals and drainages for 232.59km in Trichy here on Saturday. Nehru rolled out the desilting work across the Kudamurutti River near Uyyakondan Bridge and Koraiyaaru at Edamalaipattipudhur on Saturday.
In Trichy, the water resources department will be clearing the vegetation and silt from the rivers, canals and drainages in the Cauvery river conservation division and Ariyaar basin division in the district.The minister said that the water resources department will be carrying out 90 works to cover 232.59km at a cost of Rs 18.75 crore.
Being a part of the desilting scheme for clearing the ways for 4964.11km at a cost of Rs 80 crore in Trichy, Karur, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and Cuddalore districts announced by chief minister M K Stalin, the desilting work has been scheduled to be completed by June 10 to enable water to be released from Mettur reservoir to reach the tail-end areas of the delta districts on time. The minister said that 810 machineries will be used to complete the 683 works.
Recalling the flooding across Ariyaaru, Koraiyaaru, Nandhiyaaru and Kudamurutti rivers due to the heavy rain last year, the minister said that flooding had led to breach of rivers and inconvenience to the people in the Trichy city and the rural areas. The minister said that Trichy will be repairing the damage caused by the heavy rain last year. The minister said that IAS officers will be deputed to monitor the desilting work in the ten districts besides drawing engineers from other sections of the department in case of need of more engineers to expedite the work. The minister hinted at forming farmers’ committees for each work.
Trichy district collector S Sivarasu, chief engineer S Ramamoorthy, Trichy Corporation mayor Mu Anbazhagan and others took part in the inauguration event.