Tiruchirapalli, June 15: Sand quarrying would soon be banned in a 500 metre radius around water sources in Tamil Nadu, according to S Karuthaiya Pandiyan, the chairman and managing director of the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board. He told reporters here that various projects of the Union government's national conservation scheme in Tamil Nadu were underway. Work on an underground drainage scheme along the banks of the Cauvery in Tiruchirappali and Srirangam would begin in July this year, he said.

The TWAD had prepared a master plan and detailed project reports and estimates for the scheme pertaining to all district headquarters and municipalities. The estimated total cost was Rs 900 crore, he said.

Pandiyan said the water table in the state had dipped on an average by 40 to 90 per cent due to failure of the monsoon. To tackle the crisis, the TWAD had taken steps like resorting to energy audit, he said.

Bureau Report