Tiruchi city received intermittent rainfall right through the day. While there was a steady though mild rain for the most part, the city experienced sharp showers for about a couple of hours in the afternoon. There was an appreciable drop in temperature in the city. Farmers rejoiced as the spell would benefit the standing crops.

Roads take a beating

Many of the city roads have taken a severe beating in the sporadic spells of rain over the last month. But in most places, the Corporation was yet to begin even temporary repair works. Huge potholes have developed around the Central Bus Stand area, causing much hardship to motorists and thousands of commuters using the bus stand every day.

In some places, the Corporation has chosen to dump gravel and the latest spell of rains has reduced them to slush pools.

Nandhiyar Head in Tiruchi district recorded a maximum rainfall of 40 mm during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday. The chief amount of rainfall recorded in other parts of the district during the same period (in mm): Kallakudi 23, Lalgudi 19.20, Pullampadi 18.20, Devimangalam 16.40, Tiruchi Town 13.60, Samayapuram 12.50, Koppampatti 12, Tiruchi Junction 11.10, Golden Rock 11, Airport 10.90, Marungapuri 10.40, Pulivalam 10, Navalurkuttapattu 9.60, Manapparai 8.40, Vathalai 7.40, Ponnaniyaru and Thuraiyur 6 each and Thathaiyengarpet 5.40. The district received an average of 12.01 mm of rainfall during the same period.

PUDUKOTTAI

Heavy rain battered coastal villages in Pudukottai district on Wednesday. Several parts of the district experienced moderate to heavy rains affecting normal life. According to farmers, the rains were timely and beneficial to the standing samba paddy crop raised in the tail-end taluks.

Kattumavadi in the district recorded the highest rainfall of 112 mm in the last 24 hours till 8 a.m. on Wednesday. The chief amount of rainfall recorded in other places were: Meemisal 104 mm; Manamelkudi 101 mm; Aranthangi 75 mm; Nakudi 55 mm; Ayinkudi 54 mm; Keezhanilai 53 mm; Karambakudi 44 mm; Aranthangi 35 mm; Gandarvakotti 34 mm; Annavasal 32 mm; Adhanakottai, Arimalam, Karaiyur and Keeranur 30 mm each; Perungalur 26 mm; Tirumayam 25 mm; Pudukottai 24 mm; Iluppur 23 mm; Kudumiyanmalai 13 mm. Udaiyalipatti 12 mm and Ponnamaravathy 9 mm.

Fishermen did not venture into sea. All private and government educational institutions remained closed following heavy rains.

Moderate rains in Perambalur, Ariyalur districts

Widespread moderate rain was reported in several parts of Perambalur district on Wednesday. The district recorded a total rainfall of 167 mm in the last 24 hours till 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Venbavur received the maximum rainfall of 58 mm followed by Perambalur 46 mm, Thazhuthaazhai 35 mm, Chettikulam 15 mm and Paadaalur 13 mm.

Several places in Ariyalur district experienced light to moderate showers on Wednesday. Jayamkondam recorded the highest rainfall of 35 mm in the last 24 hours till 8 a.m. on Wednesday followed by Tirumanur 24 mm, Ariyalur and Sendurai 8 mm each.

A holiday was declared for all educational institutions in Perambalur and Ariyalur districts on Wednesday in view of the rains.

Ariyalur Collector T. Abraham said on Wednesday the water level had touched the full level in 45 irrigation tanks out of 69 tanks under the control of the Public Works Department in the district and nearly 50 per cent of the 1,067 tanks and ponds in the district had reached the full tank level.

Staff Reporters’ reports follow:

NAGAPATTINAM

Relentless rain has claimed a human life here in Vedaranyam. A 75-year old woman was washed away in a rainwater drainage channel on Wednesday early morning.

Two persons, a father and son were injured in a wall collapse in Mayiladuturai and are being treated at the Mayiladuturai General Hospital. Further, eight livestock was killed in the rain. Eight houses were completely damaged and 31 houses were partly damaged.

Over 24,127 ha of Samba area stood inundated in the district with about 14,375 wilted in the rain. The District Collector C. Munianthan inspected the fields in Velankanni, Thirupoondi, Keevazhur, Pradhamaramapuram, Melapidaagai, Eesanur, Pannaitheru, Manakudi, Thalainayar, Neermoolai, Alangudi and Vettaikaraniruppu on Wednesday. Water was being drained out of some fields with the extent of damage remained to be ascertained.

Further, the Collector has directed relaying of damaged roads along the Alangudi Thalainayar stretch, south of River Harichandra.

The rainfall figures for the 24 hour period up to 8 a.m. on Wednesday were as follows. Thirupoondi 162 mm, Manalmedu 143 mm, Mayildaturai 147.8 mm, Thalainayar 135.8 mm, Nagapattinam 119.6 mm, Tharangamdi 114.2 mm, Sirkazhi 99.5 mm, Kollidam 85 mm and Vedaranyam 38.2 mm, with a recorded average 116.12 mm.

A. Annadurai, District Revenue Officer, R.V. Karunakaran, Joint Director, Agriculture, Kamaraj, Divisional Engineer, Highways, were among those who accompanied the Collector.

KARUR

The continuing wet spell induced by the depression has helped farmers in Karur district a great deal even though they feel that any more rainfall beyond the current bout could pretty well endanger their varied crops. As of now, the farmers are happy that the rains have helped their standing crops.

As far as wetlands are concerned, both cash crops and paddy have received enough rainfall and that would help the farmers to a huge extent. But for the rainfed crops, except those that have been sown in Purattasi, the rains cannot be of any help. Since the Purattasi sowing season was dull, the rainfed areas could not savour the current rain and benefit from that. But for those who sowed rather late, the current rains would be helpful.

Also, conventional crops have suffered as the below normal rainfall in the past four months did not encourage the farmers to take up sowing at the right time. The area under conventional crops and millets might have taken a beating, farmers aver.

In Kulithalai and Krishnarayapuram belts, early and late samba crops have been in good condition and rains have helped them. Farmers who have raised the banana fields in the Adi Pattam season are going in for manure application and the current rains would only aid the off-take process of manure. For the Masi Pattam crop, the rains would help in the final manuring process assisting in the faster intake of natural nitrogen and potash besides the micronutrients from the soil, according to the convener of the Farmers Discussion Group, Kulithalai, A.V. Gopaladesikan.

But the betel vine farmers are keeping their fingers crossed as any stagnation of rainwater in their fields would wipe out the entire garden. Already they were resorting to frequent draining of water and the cost of labour was pinching them. Any stagnation of rainwater in the fields could destroy vines and they would become vulnerable to pest attacks, say sources in the Department of Agriculture.

An overwhelming majority of the farmers in the district have been pretty comfortable with the rains but they fear that continued rains would spell doom for them.

Rain continues

Meanwhile rain continued to batter several parts of Karur district with no let up in sight. Karur, Kulithalai, Aravakurichi and Velayuthampalayam areas experienced intermittent, moderate and nagging rain in the past four days throwing routine life into a spin.

Sky remained mostly overcast and low lying areas sported sheets of water as the streets and roads remained drenched.

The injured, including the Karur district unit joint secretary Balamurugan and the driver Sebesan, were rushed to a private hospital here.

The body of Vsasuki Murugesan(40) was brought to Coimbatore Medical College hospital.

Tamil Nadu Rural Industries Minister Pongalur Palanisamy and other top functionaries of the party rushed to Coimbatore hospital.

Interacting with farmers and officials during a visit to Karur, Mr. Nandakishore said that the schemes were tailor-made to suit the needs of the farmers and public should be aware of them to make the best use of the schemes. He also advised the officials to create awareness among the farmers and horticulturists to increase productivity to stay afloat in the highly competitive world. He wanted the officials to ensure that all agricultural inputs be made available in adequate quantities to the farmers.

Mr. Nandakishore, accompanied by officials from the Department of Agriculture visited some fields that have been brought under precision farm in Karur district. He visited the farm of Gunasekaran of Thirukkaduthurai where he saw for himself the lush growth of brinjal plants and enquired the condition of the crop with the farmer.

The official also visited a paddy field at Karaipalayam near Velayuthampalayam where he discussed with a progressive farmer Selvi who has opted for cultivation under System of Rice Intensification. He advised her to go in for precision farming in her sugar cane field. Farmers should be resource persons to help others go in for modernization and micro management techniques.

Likewise he visited the farm of Sujatha of Modakkur near Aravakurichi and saw the cultivation of Glorosia superba, a herbal plant that has immense medicinal properties and economic value.

Mr. Nandakishore inspected a moringa field near Aravakurichi where officials said that the current period was lull and would pick up April-May. He also visited the field where onion was being raised under drip irrigation. Besides, he visited a farmer Rathinam’s field at Pungambadi where chillies have been raised using micro irrigation technique.

District Collector J. Uma Maheswari, Joint Director of Agriculture, N. Shanmugam, Deputy Director of Horticulture Kandasamy, Deputy Director of Agricultural Marketing Muthusamy, Superintending Engineer Sundar of Agricultural Engineering, Executive Engineer Thiyagarajan, Deputy Director of Seed Certification Akbar, and others accompanied the official.

Inadequate funding, numerous cases regarding land acquisition, work that proceeded at a snail’s pace and all other issues conspired to delay the progress of the work that was initially given the green signal in 1996-97. The actual groundwork took two years to start when the foundation stone was laid with much fanfare here on May 21, 1998 by the then Railway Minister Nitish Kumar.

Then again there was inordinate delay in constructing the major bridge across river Cauvery between Vangal in Karur district and Mohanur in Namakkal district wherein some piers stood mute testimony to Railway apathy till some months back. Now there has been some progress after much goading, public point out.

The 85-km line project was sanctioned initially at a cost of Rs. 155 crore which was revised to Rs. 229.88 crore in 2000. Again considering the escalation in the cost of construction materials, steel, cement, etc., the cost was revised to Rs. 615 crore. The bridge between Vangal and Mohanur was being constructed for a length of 1.2 km at a cost of Rs. 36.37 crore.

The new line covers three districts _ Karur, Namakkal and Salem. When the authorities acquired land for the project, many people in those districts moved the courts seeking “adequate” compensation. Most of the cases pertain to Namakkal district. Previously the plan was to establish five stations and now the Railways has planned to add three more stations taking the tally to eight in the section.

For the frugal amount that the Railways allotted each year since the inception of the project, only little work could be done and that too at a tardy pace, Karur District Rail Users’ Association president S. Annadurai told The Hindu.

The new line would greatly reduce the travel time and distance between Karur and Salem. At present Salem-bound trains have to make a detour to Erode, about 40 km in excess of the proposed route.

“We thought that with the formation of the Salem Railway Division work would hasten but our hopes have been dashed by the attitude of a section of the senior Railway officials,” Mr. Annadurai adds.

Some years back, the then Minister of State for Railways R. Velu during a review visit said that the project would be completed by 2010 but even that would remain a pipedream, notes Association member M. Gunasekaran.

The project would be a great boon to the industrial belt of Karur-Namakkal-Salem and the Railways should understand that the new BG line would spur an economic growth bringing in undreamt of potential in the region.

The Ministry should allot enough and more funds as demanded by the Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in his letter to the Railway Minister Mamata Bannerjee, says textile industrialist K. Sekar of Vengamedu in Karur.

During 1997-98, Rs. 4.76 crore was spent on the project. The grant in the 1998-99 budget was Rs. 15 crore. The expenditure incurred till February 2003 was Rs. 53.64 crore. The provision during 2003-04 was Rs.15.69 crore. Same was the story year after year.

As pointed out by Mr. Karunanidhi, the current year’s allocation is a meagre Rs. 36 crore while the requirement for the current year alone is put at Rs. 140 crore. It is now up to the MPs in the region to do their bit, public say.

Chairing the Executive Committee and Governing Body Meet of the society here on Tuesday, Dr. Uma Maheswari said that a mobile medical unit was functioning in each of the eight panchayat unions in the district.

Well-equipped

The units were equipped with a medical officer, a nurse, a health assistant and a driver.

The vehicle would visit a panchayat a day in each of the unions to attend to the patients in that village, besides providing them the required medicines.

Stating that there were 31 primary health centres in the district and efforts would be taken to provide a green cover in all of them with the funds to be made available through the society, Dr. Uma Maheswari.

Through funds made available from the society nurses quarters and post-natal medical room have been constructed at Kavalkaranpatti, Kallappalli and Kadavur centers at a cost of Rs. 10 lakh each, nurses quarters at Govindampalayam and Seplapatti at a cost of Rs. 6.60 lakh each, post-natal medical room and surgical room at Uppidamangalam and Inungur centres at a cost of Rs. 10 lakh each, post-natal medical rooms at Manmangalam and Sengal centers at a cost of Rs. 10 lakh each, the Collector said.

Joint Director (Health and Family Welfare) Akbar Ali, Deputy Director (Health) K. Sadasivam, Deputy Director Ashaq Hussain, representatives of voluntary organisations and others participated in the deliberations.

Though the State and Central governments have been keen on the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the public in several places in the district have shown less than scant regard.

While disbursal of “adequate and sanctioned” wages has been one problem, the response of unskilled labourers who are supposed to be the ultimate beneficiaries of the scheme has been rather lukewarm with hardly 10 per cent of the enrolled people turning up for work regularly.

The primary problem in many a case relates to disbursal of wages. While from the workers’ side the complaint is that the officials are not granting the right and full wage of Rs.80 for a day’s toil, officials respond that Rs.80 is the maximum wage prescribed for a particular quantum of work. There was trouble in implementation of the scheme in at least four blocks of the district and it was acute in K. Paramathi, Krishnarayapuram and Karur blocks some months back. Yet another problem is the age of the workforce. In some cases elderly and the invalid too have enrolled themselves in the scheme. The average age hovers around 40 and in some panchayats touches 45. Definitely the quality of work takes a beating, but that could be discounted in a welfare scheme.

A visit to some panchayats in Karur and K. Paramathi panchayat unions recently revealed that the active participation is just 15 per cent of the enrolled people.

In the Attur Poolampalayam Panchayat of Karur Union out of the 1,100 persons enrolled under the NREGS, only 30 are turning up for work. NREGS works remained suspended in the panchayat for several months before resuming a couple of months back. The panchayat president, D. Valliammal says that the payment structure is not acceptable to the participants.The story is no different in the Punnam panchayat of K. Paramathy Union where the president, A. Devarajan says that it is not only wages, but also the nature of work that keeps away people.

While some modifications have been formulated to overcome the teething troubles in the implementation of the NREGS in the district as elsewhere, the officials are at a loss to make the enrolled beneficiaries come to work. A well meaning welfare programme is tantalisingly poised due to the lukewarm response of the public in an industrialised district that offers better opportunity to any willing worker. Not even the worldwide economic downturn and the resultant loss of jobs in textile export units has forced the unskilled workers to queue up for NREGS work and that is a sad plight.

Members of the International Geological Expedition conducting a study in Kadavur area of Karur district.

KARUR:

An international geological expedition, comprising research scholars and reputed geologists from India, Australia and Japan, conducted field tests and experiments in the Palakkad Cauvery Sheer Zone over the past week. The team is looking to find and piece together geological and structural evidences to support the Gondwana land mass theory that suggests that South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, Antarctica and Australia formed part of a single monolith land mass called Gondwana _ hundreds of million years back.

The Gondwana theory propounds that these lands got separated under a phenomenon called seafloor spreading and the great continental drift could have happened at least 200 million years back.

The Indian arm of the team comprised T.R.K. Shetty and Ellappa, Scientists with the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, while the Japanese team comprised M. Santhosh of Ko Chi University, Japan, and Chief Editor of Gondwana Research, a reputed professional journal, Tsunogae, Associate Professor, Tsukuba University, his colleague Prof. Sato and two other research scholars from Japan. Allen Collins of Adelaide University and seven others from Australia made up the team. Research Scholar R. Mohandoss of the Department of Geology, National College, Tiruchi, assisted the team in its quest in the region.

Team visits districts

The 15-member international team visited several areas of Salem, Erode, Coimbatore and Tirupur districts before descending on Karur district. All those areas form part of the Palakkad Cauvery Sheer Zone. Rock testing and sampling were done at Kanjamalai (Salem district), Tiruchengode, Kangeyam, Paramathy (Namakkal district) in the past fortnight before they started to look for clues to solve the Gondwana theory in the geologically important areas of Taragampatty, Kadavur, Ayyarmalai, Chinnampatti (all in Karur district) and Gujiliamparai (Dindigul district) over the past week.

In the South Indian landmass there are several sheer zones such as Achankoil Sheer Zone, Moyar Bhavani Sheer Zone, Salem Attur Sheer Zone, and Kangeyam Karur Tract (where a lot of gem stones occur). The team has been visiting and conducting research in all countries and areas associated with the Gondwana theory. From Karur they have taken rock samples to Australia and Japan to conduct a slew of studies. At the same time they detected the age of specific rocks and formations at the field level to be classified and enhanced further using laboratory tests and calculations. The studies would also help them analyse the sheer zones, mineralisation and geological structures. The governments of India, Australia and Japan are funding the project.

Karur district assumes great geological importance since it is a suture zone linking Palakkad Cauvery Sheer Zone with two or more tracts that are smaller in dimension, according to the researchers. Significantly in Kadavur area of Karur district deposits of Anorthosite, a monomineralic rock that gives the Moon its radiance and glitter is found in noteworthy quantum. In Tamil Nadu Anorthosite is found only at Kadavur, Oddanchatram and Siddhampoondi near Tiruchengode.

At the doorstep: Vani Soundarapandian addressing a section of the participants at a health awareness camp in Karur.

KARUR:

When it comes to health awareness, women have always suffered for lack of access to a better way of living through proper medicare and preventive measures. The plight of the rural women and those in semi urban towns is all the more disconcerting. A long way has come since the days of yore when women could never dream of discussing their problems with any medical practitioner and the efforts put in the pioneering individuals, institutions, governmental agencies and voluntary organisations needed to be recognized for bringing about the change.

Here in Karur is a medical practitioner who goes about the task of sensitising women on maintaining good health and educating them on various health aspects. Vani Sundarapandian, Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and who runs Jananam, an assisted conception unit addresses groups of women enlightening them on the various ailments that could afflict them as they age.

“Health education of women has to be taken forward in right earnest and I’m just playing out my part as a socially inclined medical practitioner. While several media have their role, a distinctive contribution could be made through personal interaction for an amalgamated group of women and that’s why we conduct our awareness programmes for specific target groups,” Dr. Vani says of her camps that are conducted absolutely free of cost to participants and the total number of camps have now crossed 50. The camps have been conducted in Karur and neighbouring districts.

“Initially the target audience at the ‘women only meets’ was teachers in schools and colleges, and we expanded to self-help groups and we followed it up reaching out to police officers and women employed in big industries. My focus is primarily on self-breast examination, prevention of cervical cancer and nutrition. The presentation is followed by an interactive sessions wherein the participants are encouraged to ask questions. When the initial blues vanish a torrent of questions on various issues follow and the participants return with sense of betterment,” observes Dr. Vani. The interactive session helps dispel many myths and fallacies that have got entrenched in the minds of the women, she adds.

“The Union Textiles Minister needs to congratulated for initiating a concerted discussion on the vexed issue of pollution originating at Tirupur, Erode, Coimbatore and Karur and the means to stem the onslaught of harmful chemicals on human beings, livestock and fertile farm lands. That the Central and the State governments are seized of the matter is appreciable and necessary steps to find a permanent solution to the pollution issue needs to be found at the earliest,” says K.A. Chinnusamy, president of the Karur District Handloom Weavers’ Welfare Association.

No doubt textile industry infused pollution has a taken a toll of the environment, drinking water sources, agriculture fortunes and public health in several places along the banks of River Cauvery in the State. Several ideas have been floated in the past few years to find a cost-effective, sustainable and just solution to the pollution problem. “We handloom weavers believe that a coordinated action plan involving various government departments and agencies would be required to solve the issue,” he said.

While the sagging textile industry should be saved of the trouble it has to undergo due to its need to tackle pollution, the essential agriculture and public health needed to be protected against industrial invasion. It is up to the governments to arrive at a just solution, Mr. Chinnusamy noted.

The Centre and the State governments should fully subsidise the cost of treating effluent discharged by the effluent treatment plants that serve the dyeing and bleaching units in the textile industries area, Mr. Chinnusamy demanded and that would help both the textile industry that was reeling under recession and the farmers who could see a better future having been saved from the clutches of pollution, he added.

Pollution threatens Tiruchi

If that is the case with the weavers, then the farmers were bitterly complaining that after consuming Karur district industrial pollution in River Cauvery was now threatening Tiruchi district and already ominous sings were already discernible. The Centre should back the Union Minister’s assurances with solid schemes to contain textile industry induced pollution they feel.

“River Cauvery has been polluted beyond all acceptable norms and the onslaught has been going on unabated for years. Despite the government’s efforts textile industry is still polluting the river systems. Banana and betel vine, crops that are very sensitive, raised in Kulithalai and Krishnarayapuram areas in Karur district and Pettaivaithalai in Tiruchi district have withered in large tracts wholly due to pollution caused by effluents discharged from the units,” points out Working president of the Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association Mahadanapuram V. Rajaram.

Pointing to the blackish water flowing down the South Bank Canal and Krishnarayapuram Channel in Mahadanapuram area, Mr. Rajaram said that farmers were complaining of itching sensation and many habitual Cauvery bathers in the areas adjoining the river have discontinued their favourite dip fearing pollution-related illness.

“It is ridiculous that textile effluent should be taken to the seashore and treated there. Rather it should be noted that pollution should be treated at the source and not elsewhere as the ill effects of pollution should not extend beyond it,” Mr. Rajaram stressed. Let the governments come up with a suitable and sustainable plan to get the world rid of industrial and specifically textile related pollution and save agriculture and farmers. If they are not going to heed then there might come a day when food crops might have vanished along with fertile fields, he said.

The annual income of the candidate’s family should be less than Rs.1 lakh and the covered, include commercial pilot license training courses.

Those desirous of applying could do so in the prescribed format to the District Adi Dravida Welfare Officer who would scrutinize the application and forward to the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for follow up action.