Overflow from Vellalore Tank
Water overflowing from the Vellalore Tank near the city floods a residential colony on Thursday.Heavy inflow in the Vellalore Canal has led to water overflowing again from the Vellalore Tank here.The overflow is said to have affected farms and flooded residential layouts near the tank.Farmers dependent on water from this resource had been happy when the tank filled up after a gap of more than 25 years.But, they were upset on Thursday at the overflow throwing life out of gear in some layouts. The 99-acre tank got filled up only this year because of the removal of encroachments in the canal and also some structural changes to the Vellalore Anicut.The anicut level was slightly below that of the canal and this restricted flow of water from River Noyyal into the canal.For a year, efforts are on to remove encroachments from the canal and unauthorised diversion of water to farms along its course.The Public Works Department and the Revenue Department carried out the removal of encroachments along with Siruthuli, a public initiative to revive and conserve water resources.
A fresh effort at removing the encroachments over a stretch of six km was underway.Buildings, sheds and even a more than 400-ft long wall were the alleged encroachments targeted by the drive. Owners of a couple of structures had asked for time to remove these.Structures over a km were being removed. Sources in Siruthuli said that if the work went on at the present pace, half the drive would be completed in 15 days. The rest could be covered in another 15 days.Meanwhile, with the overflow from the tank inundating paddy fields and residential areas, efforts were on to stop heavy inflow from the canal.
President of the Vellalore Farmers’ Association R.A. Gopalakrishnan said that with heavy rain and the removal of encroachments, there was massive inflow and this had resulted in frequent overflow of water from the tank into the fields and residential colonies.“But, we now fear that this may lead to the breaching of the bund. While we are happy on the one hand that the tank is full after many years, we are worried that the weak bunds may get damaged and result in the flooding of our colonies,” he said.Mr. Gopalakrishnan said that the authorities concerned should take steps immediately to strengthen the bund.The Vellalore Town Panchayat would provide Rs.5 lakh for some emergency measures, he said.
