Farmers seek water release

Farmers stress desilting waterbodies, releasing water for crops, tackling pests at grievance meeting with Madurai Collector.

The need to desilt and deepen waterbodies, release water for the double crop region and tackle pest infestation was stressed at the farmers grievance redress meeting held at the Collectorate on Friday.

At the meeting presided over by Madurai Collector M.S. Sangeetha, the farmers said that water from Mullaperiyar dam should be released for irrigating the first crop of the double crop region.

The farmers urged the authorities to desilt and deepen the waterbodies for storage of more water. They also complained about encroachments on the waterbodies. They urged the authorities to remove encroachments and the need to conduct a survey to ascertain the extent of the waterbodies to remove the encroachments.

The Collector told the Water Resources Department officials to take up the survey to ascertain the extent of the waterbodies in the district. The farmers also sought the removal of Prosopis juliflora (seemai karuvelam) trees from waterbodies. The Collector instructed the authorities to look into the issue and also initiate necessary steps to auction them.

The farmers complained about pest infestation and diseases affecting the crops. They sought appropriate compensation for crop loss. The Collector instructed the officials to look into the issue.