The Hindu: Madurai: Monday, June 12, 2017.
The Public
Works Department had not prepared any project plan before it went ahead with
its infamous experiment of floating thermocol sheets in Vaigai dam presided
over by Cooperation Minister ‘Sellur’ K. Raju to prevent loss of water due to
evaporation, a response provided by the department under the Right to
Information (RTI) Act has revealed.
K. Hakkim, an
RTI activist from Madurai, had sought replies for a series of questions
regarding the experiment. To a question on what the planned budget for the
experiment was, N. Anbuselvam, Assistant Executive Engineer (additional
charge), PWD, Water Resources Organisation, Vaigai Dam Sub-division, has said
that no plan was prepared.
The reply
contradicts the statement made to the media by the Minister after inaugurating
the experiment on April 21, 2017. He had said that Rs. 10 lakh had been
allocated for the experiment.
Similarly, M.
Muthupandian, the then Executive Engineer of PWD (Periyar Vaigai Division), had
said during the inauguration that the experiment was carried out in 200 square
metres of water surface. The RTI Act reply, however, states that only 60
thermocol sheets were bought for the experiment. The sheets used were less than
one square metre in size. To another question on whether similar experiments
had been tried in other dams, the PWD official had said that no such details
were available in the files in his office.
“It is
ridiculous that the PWD did not even spend time to come with a plan analysing
various factors for such a publicised experiment inaugurated by the Minister in
the presence of Collectors and other senior officials,” Mr. Hakkim said.
The exercise
turned out to be an embarrassment for Mr. Raju and the PWD as all the thermocol
sheets floated during the inauguration got washed ashore in less than 10
minutes due to heavy winds.It attracted widespread ridicule from the public
with social media getting flooded with memes.