A stretch of 26 km of irrigation channels in Muthupettai Panchayat Union has been desilted by farmers with assistance from environmental organisations.

Environmental organisations such as Green Needa and Exnora International have announced that machinery for desilting would be made available free of charges to the farmers aspiring to clear weeds and other obstructions on the irrigation channels that bring water to their ayacuts, ryots in Aariyalur village panchayat in Muthupettai Panchayat Union expressed their interest to avail the facility.

Subsequently, an earth-mover owned and maintained by the Corporate Social Responsibility wing of the automobile spare parts company, Hyundai Mobis, was brought to the village panchayat and the farmers were asked to sponsor the fuel expenditure only as the HM paid the salary for the machine operator.

The desilting work commenced on March 28 and till date 20 km of irrigation channel at Aariyalur and 6 km of channel in Kaduveli hamlet have been desilted. The work of desilting another 6 km at Chithathur had commenced, official sources said.

Encouraged by the farmers’ response to the initiative, the State government is said to have come forward to accord its consent for desilting of another 100 km of irrigation channels in Tiruvarur district by the farmers, sources added.