more-inFarmers made a fervent appeal to the administration to desilt the Vaigai dam and all the tanks in Madurai district by making use of the drought situation, at the monthly farmers’ grievance meeting here on Friday. They also urged the district administration to allow them to use the desilted alluvial soil from waterbodies to improve fertility of their farmlands. N. Palanichamy, President, Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers’ Association, said that the proposal to desilt the Vaigai dam had been kept pending for many years and the government should make use of the prevailing drought situation to carry out the activity. “It should act swiftly to desilt the dam before the next monsoon season, during which we hope there will be more inflow to the dam,” he said. Farmers also felicitated Mr. Rao for having received an award from the President of India for the exemplary work by the district administration in creating voter awareness.

Source: The Hindu January 28, 2017 00:45 UTC