Kasi Viswanathar Temple tank being desilted

The Sri Kasi Visalakshi- Kasi Viswanathar Temple at Gandhipuram in ward 23 in the city is being cleared of weeds and silt under an initiative of the Tiruchi Corporation.

The Corporation has taken up the work under the recently launched Tamil Nadu Urban Employment Scheme which aims to improve the livelihood of the urban poor. The scheme has been launched in K.Abishekapuram zone of the Tiruchi Corporation. Works such as creating rainwater harvesting structures, maintaining parks, micro compost yards and drains, clearing bushes along roads and kutcha drains, planting tree saplings on the roadside and desilting temple tanks, would be taken up under the initiative. Beneficiaries would be paid ₹363 a day as wages.

K. Suresh, the ward councillor, who inaugurated the desilting work, said that the tank had not been cleaned for several years. There was heavy weed growth on the tank which had a spread of about 16,000 square feet. The cleaning of the tank would help rejuvenate groundwater table in the locality. About 25 persons have been deployed for the work.

A corporation official said that the tank has been cleaned to a certain extent about six years ago. The current initiative would help improve the water table and the work is expected to be completed in about 10 days.