The parched aycut area has not been receiving supplies as the Aathupalayam reservoir had become a storage tank for Orathuppalayam polluted water flowing down the River Noyyal over the past few years.

The storage facility was meant to harness excess flood water flowing down River Noyyal and draining from the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) canal to irrigate more than 19,000 acres in Karur District.

The construction work started in 1980 it could be completed only a decade later due to various factors including technical and financial delays leading to cost and time over runs.

However, the joy of the farmers was short lived as by 1995 the reservoir had become a repository of polluted water and sludge carried by Noyyal River from the dyeing and bleaching factories in Tiruppur and Coimbatore regions.

But the inlet canals, reservoir bed and other sites have silted up heavily for want of proper maintenance over the past 20 years.