A group of villagers in Vellore in Tamil Nadu are living in fear that the rains may wash away their homes as a nearby lake is not maintained well.
Since the heavy rains in October, about 4000 people in Jawathirama Samuthiram area have been living in fear that their village might be washed away by the lake water. The land between the lake and the panchayat has gone down by a few in inches in the past few weeks.
Villagers say that the wall around the lake was built around 400 years back during the time of the 'zamindars' and they have been maintaining it by putting sand bags and cementing the broken areas, but the heavy rains have weakened the structure as the water level of the lake continues to rise, threatening to wash away the entire Narayanapuram panchayat, including 130 acres of paddy land.
“At night we are scared to sleep, we don't know what will happen. In the evening we go to the lake in groups with our torches and check if there is any leakage. We go back to our homes only at around 3 am to get some sleep," said Mathivannan, a local resident.
The villagers say they have met all officials but have been given no solution.
According to another resident Rajamani, “We have met the block development officer, tehsildar and collector. We have been told there are no records that the area belongs to Tamil Nadu and so maintenance cannot be done."
Villagers say that they have a document from 1992 issued by the district survey office which says the lake is part of Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, local officials say the area was shifted from Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in 1992 but the records have not been changed. They maintain they are taking action but the villagers say nothing has changed on the ground.
Fearing for their lives and livelihood, villagers hope that they do not receive heavy rains in the coming days. They demand that at least in crisis situation like this the government and district administration should keep safety of people above mere records and do immediate maintenance.
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