Farmers belonging to Hanur taluk in Chamarjanagar district of Karnataka State have sought the help of the Coimbatore district administration to trace the map of a 40-acre water body at Doddadevarahalli hamlet in Martalli Village Panchayat that had existed in pre-Independence era.
Kollegal taluk, out of which Hanur taluk was carved later, was part of the composite Coimbatore district during the British regime.
Down the decades, the water body was subsumed in the reserve forest area. The map is crucial for the team as the Forest Department in Karnataka had reportedly expressed readiness to revive the water body on furnishing of proper records.
A team of farmers had initially approached the Erode district administration and carried out an extensive search in the sub-registrar office in Gobichettipalayam, but were not able to trace the records. They were, in turn, directed to the District Record Centre at Perur in Coimbatore district. The water body was crucial for livelihood of residents in 17 hamlets including Doddadevarahalli, Kadambur, Makaralli and Elachikarai in the surroundings, Arputharaj, a team member said.
The team has in its possession a document pertaining to 1915 that had been preserved for generations. The document states about the existence of the water body at the time when Coimbatore district had the jurisdiction over Kollegal prior to demarcation of boundaries on linguistic basis, after the British era.
