Ungalai Thedi Ungal Ooril: Tiruchy collector inspects storage capacity of Ponnaiyar dam

TIRUCHY: Tiruchy collector visited the Ponnaniyar dam on the outskirts of the town to inspect the water storage condition as part of the state government’s special scheme of ‘Ungalai Thedi Ungal Ooril’.

Ponnaniyar Dam is located between Perumal Malai and Semmalai on the border between Tiruchy and Karur districts. The dam plays a main role in irrigation in both districts. While the catchment area is located in Karur, the rainwater from the Kadavur region in Karur is the main source of water in the dam that was built in 1974 with a catchment area of around 54 sq km. The 51-metre tall dam has a storage capacity of 120 mcft of water and it is customary to release water for irrigation only when the storage reaches 70 mcft.

The Tiruchy Collector M Pradeep Kumar along with the water resource department officials on Wednesday visited the Ponnaniyar Dam at Vaiyyampatti in Tiruchy district and inspected the dam to examine the actual storage capacity and current storage and the catchment areas.

Subsequently, he visited the Vaiyampatti Veterinary Hospital and PDS outlet and inspected the records maintained in the outlet and computer room and its functioning. Later, he visited the micro compost unit and interacted with the workers.

Later he received petitions from the public and assured them of fulfilling their demands on a priority basis. Manapparai MLA Abdul Samad, DRO Rajalakshmi, and others were present with the collector during the inspection.