Trichy: Farmers have urged the district administration to take steps to strengthen the bunds of Cauvery and Kollidam rivers which had become weak because of the sand quarries which once functioned there. The demand came even as water was released in the Cauvery from Mettur reservoir and was expected to reach Trichy within three days.Before the ban imposed by the Madras high court, the sand quarries had been functioning at 11 locations such as M Puthur, Manamedu, Seeplaputhur, Kariamanickam, Thiruvasi, Kiliyanur, Kondayampettai, Sirugamani, Panayakuruchi, Viragalur and Aalambadi in Trichy district. Of these, five quarries were located in Cauvery river and the six others in Kollidam river. Besides Trichy district, eleven more quarries had also been functioning in Karur, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Ariyalur districts.“The banks are very weak wherever sand quarries have been functioning for a long time. PWD officials should maintain a close vigil as water has been released from Mettur reservoir for delta cultivation on Thursday”, the district secretary of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, affiliated to CPI, Ayilai Sivasuriyan, appealed. He recalled that during the 2000 floods, Porur village in Anthanallur union was inundated and residents were evacuated and sent to camps. Following a breach in Kodingal canal bunds, hundreds of acres of samba paddy crop was submerged. Flood water gushing out from Uyyakondan canal had destroyed thousands of banana trees in the union.As thousands of trucks moved on the banks of Kollidam river during the process of sand mining, the entire stretch of the banks near the villages of Anbil, Ariyur, Esanaikorai, Appathurai and Edaiyattrumangalam hade been damaged. The bund near Thiruvalarsolai village in Cauvery river was also damaged and should be strengthened on a war footing before water reached Trichy, said N Veerasekaran, state spokesperson of Bharathiya Kisan Sangam. “Mud roads are being laid across the Cauvery as well as Kollidam at sand quarries to enable the trucks to roll on to the rivers easily. As these mud passages are posing a threat to the free flow of water, PWD authorities should demolish them before water starts flowing on the riverbed”, he opined.

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