More than 400 men of the Army worked twelve hours a day in Tamil Nad to solve the water-scarcity problem. Once again the Army responded to a call for help. The heroes of Rayalaseema worked in Tamil Nad deepening and widening wells, blasting the granite, boring through rocky bases, determined to strike water out of the bowels of the earth.

Within the first fifteen days of their work these Army Engineers - who were recently withdrawn from Rayalaseema after having worked there— deepened 23 wells and were working on 34 in the Coimbatore, Salem, Ramnad, Madura and Tiruchirapalli districts.

This was the third time that the Army went into "operation" to bring water to the dry areas and relieve the thirst of parched throats-first in Saurashtra where the problem was of distributing water-the Army lent its transport and a team of drivers to solve this effectively. Then in Rayalaseema where a big "Operation Famine Relief" was launched and the Army Engineers went all out to deepen wells and carry fresh water from village to village. When the weather conditions in Rayalaseema improved these men were withdrawn. Again in Tamil Nad the same Engineers were busy deepening and widening old wells which have been lying dry for a number of years.

Blasting and boring wells to strike a perennial water level was the main task of these Engineers. They had been asked to deepen a total of 115 wells. Of these sixty wells had to be deepened in the Coimbatore district where the principal centres of work are Tiruppur, Vellakkoil, Mulanur and Udamalpet; thirty in the Salem district with Rasipur and Triuchengodn as the main centres; five in the Palni taluk of Madura district; fifteen in the Ramanathapuram district and five in the Tirumayam taluk of the Tiruchirapalli district.

With the rapid speed with which the work was done it was hoped that the allotted number of wells in the Tiruchirapalli and Ramanathapuram districts would be deepened by the third week of July and by the first week of August work would be completed in the Salem and Coimbatore districts.

Although the Army was not employed on distributing water in these districts - this work was done by the civil administration - yet they had put up a number of water points where water was pumped out of deep wells or stray rivulets and stored in canvas tanks, each with a capacity of 40 to 50 thousand gallons. From these tanks which were easily accessible to the villagers, water was distributed.

The Army personnel which included a large number of Engineers and men from the Signal and Supply Corps first received their orders to move into Tamil Nad on June 22. An advance party moved the same day. Most of the troops arrived at their respective posts by June 25. The heavy equipment like compressers and drilling machines came by the end of June by which time all the men were in position. Work started on June 30, except in Salem where work commenced on July 5.

Working from six in the morning to six in the evening-with an hour’s break for lunch-these gallant soldiers, who had already earned a name for themselves in Rayalaseema were fired with the same zeal as before to strike water out of the depth of the earth. They had been drawn from all parts of the country. Living in far-flung places, remote from civilization, they faced up to all difficulties. There were no holidays for them. Sundays were also working days. Covered with mud and dust, working thirty to forty feet below ground level, their only consolation was a word of praise from their Commanders.

Soldiers were housed in travellers Bungalows in towns nearest to their work. Accommodation was provided by the local Civil Administration, but food was provided by the Army. Strict instructions were issued to all men to carry their own rations and cook their own food to avoid being a burden on the local population.

Twenty-two air compressers for deepening and drilling wells were pressed into service in the various districts. In addition to these there was an adequate supply of explosives for blasting the rocky bases and other necessary equipment. But the deepening of wells was an uphill task as most of these had a hard granite base. Sometimes it took four to seven days to deepen one well and it was not possible to dig more than one and a half feet in a day.

The liaison between the army and civil authorities was extremely good. The list of wells which had to be deepened was drawn up by the Famine Commissioner of Madras.