Desilting lakes is hardly the sort of thing you would expect of a bank, but when the President of the Tamizhga Vivasayigal Sangam approached City Union Bank (CUB) with such a request late in May, the latter immediately took up the project.

The Kumbakonam-headquartered bank’s Managing Director, N Kamakodi, told BusinessLine that in a matter of three months, CUB had four lakes — Vadeesamangalam, Edannavasal, Paruthikottai and Moovanallur — in and around Mannargudi town, 38 km away, desilted. There are 16 lakes in the region.

“The works included deepening, desilting and strengthening bunds. As luck would have it, there was a heavy downpour the day after we de-silted the lakes,” said Kamakodi.

The rains were a godsend. “The unexpected downpour resulted in overflowing of the lakes into the connected streams and on to the Pamaniyar river,” said Kamakodi, thanking the rain gods, locals, retired PWD engineers and all those involved in the rejuvenation.

“We had sanctioned around ₹90 lakh for this project, but a close look shows that the benefit is several times the investment. As many as 70 villages in and around Mannargudi town have got a new lease of life; close to 4 lakh people have benefited,” he said, calling on corporate entities to take up such projects.

Kamakodi said depletion of ground-water has been worrisome, with the levels going well below 1,000 feet in Thanjavur.

Water conservation is the need of the hour, he reiterated. “We are preparing to take up cleaning of four more lakes next year.”

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