Nirupama Viswanathan By Express News Service CHENNAI: It has been two weeks since residents of Edapalayam in Alamathi village desilted the community well, an open well that was constructed during colonial times and quenched thirst of around 100 families. Passers-by look expectantly into the chequered grill to check if the water spring in the well has resumed. It looked like the well, just like their luck, had dried up. A group of around 100 residents got together in May to desilt it, each pitching in around Rs 1,000. They rented a mini earthmover for the purpose. “This well has not received a single rupee from the Government since Independence. We were tired of asking Panchayat officials,” said Habibur Rahman H, a resident. Together, they cleared out plastic waste, carcasses and silt that had piled up to 15 feet of the 50-foot-deep well. They now hope that their efforts would not go in vain and that it was not too late for the spring to be restored. Out of the nine wells in village, six were closed for private constructions. Out of the remaining, the smallest one lies within the premises of R Kannan’s house. For the first time in 25 years the well is now dry.“During power cuts that followed cyclone Vardah, around 200 people lined up in front of my house because our well was the only available source of water,” Kannan said. The villagers decided to do whatever was in their power to revive open wells. It was accepted unanimously, considering many of the residents had moved from parts of North Chennai like Royapuram and Vyasarpadi to the then sparsely populated Alamathi, solely because of the copious water availability. The decision and the rapid action that followed is mainly because of the fact that the village has exhausted most of its other options, except borewells. When Express visited the spot, the inlet channel that carries water from the Sholavaram lake to the village’s Vetanthangal lake was blocked by a road. However, no one has any idea of how much the lake has shrunk. Vetanthangal lake was originally said to have spanned 17 acres but its current measurement is not known. In a Panchayat document accessed by Express, the current expanse of the lake was marked ‘not available.’ When contacted, Panchayat officials said that they would have to ‘check records.’ According to district administration officials, work to restore Vetanthangal lake was to be taken up under two schemes at a total cost of Rs 25 lakh. A year after the proposal was tabled, work is yet to begin.

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