Villagers of Munasandhai and Kadaiyakudi panchayats in Arimalam block in the district have finally decided to restore the ‘kudi maramathu’ on Monday when they will widen the irrigation channel which had got narrowed down over the continued neglect for the past two decades.
“We have lost the cheer and happiness of our forefathers but decided to re-build it through kudi maramathu”, P. Velayutham, a progressive farmer of Munasandhai and also Director of Pudukottai Organic Farmer Producer Company told The Hindu on Sunday.
He said that the topography of the twin panchayats was a gift of nature. “We can withstand any heavy spell of monsoon and floods, as the water entering the Munsandhai village will immediately drain through the sluices in Kadaiyakudi. But, unfortunately, the channels were in a neglected condition. A. Adhappan, founder of Rose Trust, which floats the farmers club, said that a meeting of the club members was convened recently and a decision to dredge, in the first phase, the irrigation channels from the Ponnachi Eri to a length of one km was taken. About 400 farmers will be involved in this community service for about seven hours. The channel would be dredged to a depth of five feet and to a breadth of two feet all through the one km stretch.
As the soil is a bit rugged, it would be too difficult to dig the earth, he said explaining the back-breaking exercise to commence at 7 a.m. on Monday.
