NGO to work

Siruthuli, an NGO which
successfully strove for recharging groundwater level here to some extent, is now taking steps to restore Noyyal river by identifying its streams and rivulets, which were now almost either choked by wastes or encroached upon by construction of residents and shops.
As a first step, a Noyyal Restoration Steering Committee has been formed, which had identified three places, where the streams got disconnected and unable to reach water bodies due to encroachments mid-way, Siruthuli Executive Trustee, Vanitha Mohan, told reporters here today.
With copious rains lashing the district for the last few days, the rain waters were losing its way and getting weakened due to poor desilting periodically of waterways and ponds,and only 25 per cent of rain water reached the ponds, she said.

The committee has carried out a survey at Masaorumbu, Iruttupallam and Mundandurai-- on the outskirts, and submitted a proposal to the district administration to carry out a digital survey in this regard, C R Swaminathan, a committee member, said.
Stating that the farmers were happy when the organisation successfully restored Nandankarai stream some four years ago, Vanitha said some 1,500 acres in the vicinity were benefitted due to this.
The Noyyal river, once the lifeline of four neighbouring districts of Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode and Karur, has 34 streams and rivulets and if it has to be brought to its original form, traversing 33 KM from Tirupur, it required a sum of Rs.100 crore, Swaminathan said.

In the first phase, the project of desliting, constructing check dams, if needed, may require about Rs 1.50 crore, he said.