Villagers appeal to Collector to conduct safety audit of check-dam after recent cracks in the bund trigger panic

Residents of two villages near Thediyoor check-dam have submitted a petition to Collector R. Sukumar seeking a comprehensive safety audit by experts after water began gushing out recently through fissures that had developed in its bund.

The villagers from Thamizhaakurichi and Kuravarkulam under Thediyoor village panchayat said the water copiously flowing through the cracks developed in the bund of Thediyoor check-dam, also known as Thamizhaakurichi check-dam, which is part of the Tamirabharani – Karumaeniyar – Nambiyar linking project’s flood carrier channel, gave sleepless nights to the residents of nearby Thamizhaakurichi and Kuravarkulam as any major breach in the check-dam or the bund would instantly submerge both hamlets.

Even though the ‘worst case scenario’ did not happen, the water flowing through the cracks had submerged the nearby fields, where the farmers had cultivated paddy and plantain, causing huge loss to the growers. Fearing a major breach in the bund, or in the check-dam itself, due to continued heavy influx of water, most of the villagers had left their home to safer places.

Hence, the Tamil Nadu Government should take immediate steps to strengthen the bund on both sides of the check-dam and also the flood carrier channel considering the safety of the villages on both sides of the 73-km-long canal and take appropriate corrective measures. Moreover, new channels should be dug at Thamizhaakurichi, Kuravarkulam and Sengulam to drain the surplus water from the flood carrier channel considering the safety of villages nearby, the petitioners said.

Seeking the Collector’s permission to move a no-confidence motion against their panchayat president and vice-president, ward members of Vellankuzhi village panchayat submitted a petition to Dr. Sukumar on Monday.

The aggrieved ward members said their village panchayat president and the vice-president were not conducting the mandatory meetings within the stipulated intervals while implementing only the projects being chosen by the two instead of getting their consent. This ‘autocratic decision-making’ was causing huge financial loss to the village panchayat ever since they assumed office.

At the same time, the drinking water scheme approved by the ward members in the village panchayat meeting had been put in cold storage for the past four years even as the villagers were struggling to get drinking water. Also, the president and the vice-president unilaterally recorded the proposals and threatened the ward members to give their assent by affixing their signatures in the panchayat records.

While the real beneficiaries had been left-out, free houses had been sanctioned to people who already had houses “Hence, the District Collector should either disqualify the Vellankuzhi village panchayat president and his deputy or allow us to move a no-confidence motion against them,” the petitioners said.

On behalf of Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam, a petition was submitted seeking the Collector’s intervention to drain the rainwater stagnating along the sixth street of TVS Nagar.