‘Radha Vaaikal’ is a canal that draws water from the Veeranam Lake, in the Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu. While over 1400 acres of agricultural lands depend on this canal 13 villages also get their water from it. Of all the 30 canals that draw water from Veeranam Lake, this canal, spanning a distance of 9.6 km, is the longest. But for decades people hadn’t seen water flowing in this canal. The surrounding villages and their agriculture were deprived of water. But a woman named Ranganayaki, fondly called ‘RadhaVaaikal Ranganayaki,’ with her tireless efforts ensured the flow of water in the canal. She singlehandedly fought to remove encroachments on the canal and de-silted it. Ranganayaki brought the colours of blue and green back to the map of these villages.
Vadamoor is small village located 13 km from the Veeranam Lake. Ranganayaki, now 66, hails from this village. She lost her husband to cancer 25 years ago. At that time she had three children, including a special needs daughter, to take care of, but there was no income. She started to learn farming from her father and tried it in a small portion of her land. It was then she realised that there was very little water in the village, both for drinking and for irrigation. A block in the Raja Vaaikal, which carried water from the lake to the villages and the farms, was the problem.
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Ranganayaki approached the Public Works Department and petitioned them to clear the canal. There was no action from the government despite her repeated petitions, so she decided to take things into her own hands. She used her own tractor and paid for laborers to clear a portion of the canal to facilitate the flow of water from the lake into the canal. The canal had been used as a dumping yard by hospitals and slaughterhouses. Ranganayaki managed to de-silt around 3 km of the canal, five villages and about 400 acres of lands got water. At this point the government too joined her efforts; the Cuddalore Collector sanctioned Rs. 1.75 lakh to clear the canal. In the following years slowly the entire distance of the canal was cleared and the 13 villages and 1400 acres of land got the much-needed water.
Ranganayaki braved series of unfortunate events, from the death of her husband, to a poor agricultural yield. This farmer’s widow was determined to take care of her family when her husband died, and today thousands of farmers look up to her as the woman who brought water to their villages and their lands.
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