The Tiruvallur district administration seems to be gearing up to make the best of the monsoon rains which began in the state a few days ago. The district police, with the support of the District Collector, have desilted a lake in Mappedu, making sure that the monsoon rains benefit the people living in and around the area.
Gandhipettai is a village situated around 20 kilometres away from Tiruvallur. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Mappedu police station in Tiruvallur district. The village has a lake, known as the Thevarkadaiyanthangal, that is a little over 3.50 acres in area and had reportedly not been desilted for a long time. This is what prompted the police to take up the task of getting the lake ready to receive the monsoon showers. The initiating pooja for the task was conducted on the lakebed in the presence of the District Collector and the Superintendent of Police.
Speaking to TNM about the task, a police officer who participated in the clean-up drive, said that the task was spread over nine days. “We began desilting on October 7 and ended it on October 16. The lake had silted up to three feet high,” he said. The district force had entrusted 50 policemen with the task of desilting the lake, with 10 policemen per team taking turns to clean it every day.
The state government is also on a desilting drive in parts of Tamil Nadu. However, the police officer said that it might take months for the government’s attention to turn towards this lake.
“The government is doing it. But this lake needed immediate attention because the rainy season is near. Hence we decided to do this ourselves,” he explained.
An excavator and an earthmover were deployed to desilt the lake, too. “We also have plans to do a similar project in two or three other lakes in the district so that when rains come, the water will seep in to recharge the groundwater levels,” the officer said.
The lake before clean-up
After clean-up
Tiruvallur was one of the districts in Tamil Nadu that were affected due to water scarcity during summer. It was also one of the districts in which the water-table fell at a faster rate than other districts in the state, as per a report.