Farmers seek removal of bunds around eucalyptus plantations in Pudukottai

The Bharatiya Krishak Samaj has urged the State government to remove the bunds created inside the reserve forest areas where eucalyptus plantations have been raised in Pudukottai district.

In a representation submitted to Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, during his recent visit to the district, G.S. Dhanapathy, State general secretary of the farmers forum, said Pudukottai district was largely made up of rain-fed areas. The district had not witnessed any significant industrial development.

About 3.85 lakh acres of agriculture land depended on the rain-fed small and large lakes numbering around 6,000 across the district. Most of these lakes and ponds got the rainwater flows from the surrounding reserve forests. About 55,000 acres of reserve forests in the district served as the catchment areas for these waterbodies.

However, the TN Forest Plantation Corporation has raised eucalyptus trees, a non-native species, in these reserve forests. Mud bunds, of varying sizes, had been raised around the plantations which hindered the flow of the rainwater to the nearby waterbodies. Even if the area gets 40 mm of rainfall, the water could not flow out of the plantations, he alleged.

Hence, only if there was heavy rainfall, the waterbodies could get inflow, enabling farmers to take up cultivation. The State government should take steps to remove the bunds so that the rainwater flowed into the nearby waterbodies without any hindrance from the reserve forest areas, Mr. Dhanapathy said.

Published - May 31, 2025 06:20 pm IST