Farmers urge authorities to remove encroachments from waterbodies

Farmers of Madurai district urged the authorities to remove encroachments from waterbodies. They said such issues could be resolved at the block-level. They also urged the authorities to prevent the discharge of sewage into waterbodies.

At the farmers’ grievance redress meeting held on Friday at Madurai Collectorate presided over by Collector Nishant Krishna, farmers complained that even the inlet streams were being encroached upon and urged the authorities to take necessary steps, remove the encroachments and restore the waterbodies. They said three such inlet streams flowing from Nagamalai to Kalyanipatti had been encroached upon.

A section of farmers said a retaining wall was constructed to prevent discharge of sewage into a water canal that connected to Madakulam tank. However, the wall had been breached in Achampathu. Farmers urged the authorities to take necessary steps and prevent the discharge of sewage into the tank.

Farmers from Kallanai who had earlier complained about the indiscriminate stone quarrying taking place in the region said action was taken by the authorities and the quarries were closed now. However, Gundaru which was the main source of water in the region has dried up. The people of the region were affected as a result, they said and urged the authorities to take necessary steps to revive the waterbody.

Farmers complained that there was a shortage of native varieties of field bean seeds and only hybrid varieties were available. They said field beans are used during various festivals and urged the authorities to ensure that the native varieties were available. The authorities said the issue would be looked into and assured the farmers that the native varieties would be made available.