Agriculture Minister Vinoth Inspects Water Hyacinth Removal, Canal Desilting in Kumbakonam

PRESS RELEASE Hon'ble Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Thiru. R. Vivekanand Personally Inspects the Removal of Encroaching Lotus Weeds along the Arasalar Waterway in Kumbakonam Taluk, Thanjavur District, and the De-silting Works of Channels 'C' and 'D' in Progress at Muzhalai Village Hon'ble Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Thiru. R. Vivekanand today (06.06.2026) personally inspected the removal of encroaching lotus weeds along stretches of the Arasalar waterway (from Tharasuram Bridge to Vaikanathai Bridge), Kumbakonam Taluk, Thanjavur District, and the de-silting works of Channels 'C' and 'D' being carried out by the Agricultural Engineering Department at Muzhalai village. During the inspection, Hon'ble Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Thiru. R. Vivekanand stated as follows: At Mettuthurai village, Papanasam Taluk, Thanjavur District, the Cauvery river splits at Mile 46/2 above the upper anicut into the Cauvery and the Arasalar, the latter flowing for 72 km within Tamil Nadu, irrigating 84,773 acres of land, before entering the neighbouring Union Territory of Puducherry and eventually merging into the Bay of Bengal. At present, along the stretch of the Arasalar from Mile 55/2 to 59/3 (from Tharasuram Bridge to Vaikanathai Bridge, a distance of 6.60 km, with a width of 40 metres/120 feet), encroaching lotus plants, creepers, sedge grass, castor plants and silt mounds have accumulated at various points, making it difficult for irrigation water to flow fully to the lower reaches, and also hampering drainage during the rainy and flood seasons. Furthermore, since the encroaching lotus growth has become extensive, there is a risk of venomous creatures such as snakes and scorpions entering nearby residential areas. Hence, this work was undertaken as an emergency measure, and the removal of encroaching lotus and other vegetation along the aforementioned 6.60-km stretch of the Arasalar, from Mile 55/2 to 59/3, was planned. With maintenance funding from the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department, 7 new state-of-the-art Poclain excavators were procured at a cost of Rs. 3.50 crore, to protect water bodies and further expedite emergency disaster relief works. Using these machines, in the first phase, from 13.05.2026 to 22.05.2026, approximately 1.40 km of encroaching lotus was removed from the Arasalar in the Vaikanathai area of Kumbakonam Taluk. Subsequently, from 24.05.2026 to 29.05.2026, approximately 900 metres of encroaching lotus was removed from the Arasalar in the Tharasuram area. In total, works covering 2.30 km have been completed. Removal of the remaining 4.30 km stretch of encroaching lotus along the Arasalar is now underway from today. Additionally, Channels 'C' and 'D' are currently being de-silted by the Agricultural Engineering Department; accordingly, a total of 26.65 km of channels - comprising 6.9 km at Kovilacheri village, 14.6 km at Palloor village, 2.6 km at Thirunallur village, and 2.5 km at Neelathanallur village - are being de-silted at an estimated cost of Rs. 9.25 lakh. All these works are being carried out on a war footing. This will help prevent flood risk during the rainy season, while also ensuring uninterrupted availability of irrigation water required for agriculture, stated Hon'ble Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Thiru. R. Vivekanand. Following this, Hon'ble Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Thiru. R. Vivekanand inspected the de-silting works of Channels 'C' and 'D' being carried out by the Agricultural Engineering Department at Muzhalai village. The inspection was attended by Water Resources Department, Cauvery Basin Circle, Thanjavur Executive Engineer Thiru. Ma. Ilango, Supervising Engineer Thiru. Ezhilan, Assistant Executive Engineer Thiru. Ayyappan, Assistant Executive Engineer Thiru. Sridhar, Engineers Thiru. Senthil Murugan, Thiru. Gokul Rajan, Thiru. Paul Raj, Cauvery Basin Sub-Circle, Kumbakonam Assistant Executive Engineer Thiru. Ki. Muthumani, Cauvery Division, Papanasam, Assistant Engineer Thiru. Pe. Karthikeyan, Officer Prabhakaran, Water Resources Department officials, farmer representatives and members of the public. ************** Issued by: Director, Directorate of Information and Public Relations, Chennai-9