Don’t turn irrigation tank into dump site, desilt it: Tiruvarur ryots

TIRUCHY: Farmers from Tiruvarur protested on Tuesday, demanding that the State government desilt the 200-acre Mangalur eri at Muthupettai, which is the primary source of water for more than 10 villages around the area. They were irate over the plan to establish a garbage recycling unit at the site and staged a protest against it.

According to the protesting farmers, the Muthupettai Town panchayat had planned to establish a garbage recycling unit under a solid waste management project near the Mangalur eri, which they claimed would contaminate the groundwater, in turn harming farming in the region.

They stated that the civic administration has not conducted any discussions with the people, particularly with the farmers from the area, but plans to proceed with the proposal to make it a dump yard.

They claimed that the Mangalur eri had not been desilted, and the accumulated garbage in the water body was polluting a primary source of water for irrigation in Mangalur and the adjacent villages.

The eri is also a major source of water collection and would irrigate at least 2,000 acres of land, they pointed out. “The garbage recycling unit is illegal, and so the officials should drop the move and identify some other location for it and save the water body,” said PR Pandian, president, coordination committee of All Farmers Associations.

He said that a representation has also been sent to the CM, and the farmers would organise a series of protests if their demands are not fulfilled.