Villagers of Munasandhai panchayat in Arimalam block restored a channel for a length of about one km and got water for irrigating their fields.
The supply was obtained from the channels of the Ponnachi tank in the village. These channels were silted up for the past three decades due to poor maintenance. The farmers, most of them members of Farmers Clubs and Rose Trust, a service organisation promoting bio-cultivation technology, numbering 325, worked hard for about seven hours, widened the channel for about two feet and cleared the silt to a depth of five feet. “We can now ensure flow of water up to the fields,” says P. Velayutham, one of the bio-farmers also Director of Pudukottai Bio-farmers Producer Company.
A. Adhappan, founder of Rose Trust, said that the Munasandhai panchayat accounted for three major tanks, Ponnachi, Melakanmai and Kovinjankanmai tank. About 310 acres were irrigated through these tanks. The tanks had realised good amount of storm water and the level was about 30 per cent of their capacity. Due to poor maintenance, waters did not reach the fields.
