The Forest Department, as part of the State Government’s Special Area Development Program (SADP), provides water supply to seven tribal settlements within the Udumalpet forest range in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) in Tiruppur district.
According to Udumalpet forest range officer C. Dhanbalan, the project to supply water to seven of the 12 tribal settlements in the forest range began in August and was completed in November. The settlements covered under the project are Thirumurthy Malai, Kodanthur, Kulipatti, Kurumalai, Puchukottanparai, Kattupatti and Mavadappu.
“The total length of the pipes we used for all the seven hamlets was about 37 km,” said Mr. Dhanbalan. The project involved drawing water from a perennial stream in the surrounding area and supplying it to settlements through pipes using a gravity flow water distribution system. He said no electricity or motor pump was used for the water supply project.
Of the seven hamlets, Mavdappu was the remotest (about 40 km from Kodanthur) and it took almost two months to extend the water supply network to this hamlet, he said. Earlier this week, an overhead tank with a capacity of 2,000 liters was installed to store water at Mavadappu.
According to Mr Dhanbalan, Rs 65 lakh of SADP was used for this water supply project, adding that the remaining five habitations in the Udumalpet forest range of ATR would also receive water supply after the approval of additional funds.
,