This morning, tense situation prevailed near the Sundakamuthur water body, as residents confiscated lorries that were found to be mis-using the soil retrieved from the lake other than the said purpose.
Here is what Thirunavukarasu, one of the member of the Disaster Management Committee shared with us about the issue ''The Sundakkamuthur lake is spread over 40 acres. The lake is the prime source of water for the agricultural lands adjacent to the water body. It has been the long-pending plea of the people of this area to de-silt the lake. In the past, there are instances where water has entered residential colonies and caused huge inconvenience for the people. We have filed petitions to the Collector to de-silt the lake and remove the encroachments, as well. On this regard, the District Collector formed a Disaster Management Committee comprising of six members from Sundakamuthur area.
I am one of the six members of the disaster management group constituted by the District Collector. I am representing the Sundakamuthur area in the group. During the meeting with the collector, we requested the collector to de-silt the tank as we are getting close to the monsoons. The Tahsildar who is in charge of our area said that the work can be undertaken only after getting funds from the Smart City Project. But from November 5th, they started the de-silting process. Each day 10 to 12 loads of soil through a private contract lorry service was removed from the lake. They informed us that the soil removed will be used for building checkdam in Kavundanur. Off late, when we, committee members visited the checkdam at Kavundanur we learned that the soil has not reached here instead diverted to some other location.
Thus, today we confiscated the lorries to prove our point. We stopped two vehicles but a JCB and tipper lorry escaped from the area. We have informed the issue to the Tahsildar and the police. A complaint has been raised by us with the signatures of all who were in the spot. We propose that the soil can be used at the government school which is 4 feet lower than the ground level. As there are many places here in the village, where the soil can be used to elevate the place, there is no need for the soil to be transported to a different location'.
Presently, the confiscated lorries have been taken to the Tahsildar's office for investigation. The Tahsildar has assured that action would be initiated against the contractor for breaching the contract agreement. In this regard, a case has been filed at the Perur police station.