CHENNAI: While farmers of Kongu region are elated over the realisation of their 70-year-old dream, the Athikadavu-Avinashi project, they have urged the MK Stalin government to connect another 1,400 water bodies, which are currently not connected, to the canal.
M Velusamy, a functionary of a farmers’ association of Valayapalayam village in Tiruppur district, who is part of the Athikadavu protest committee, on Saturday thanked the DMK government for commissioning the project but regretted that not all water bodies in Coimbatore, Erode and Tiruppur are connected to the irrigation project. “We appeal to the government to ensure that all the missing water bodies are connected to the project,” he said.
The canal will benefit nearly 1,045 water bodies and thousands of farmers in the western districts of the state. Much to the joy of farmers, a 67-year-old dream has come true today. The delayed project will remain incomplete unless it is extended and expanded to meet the interests of farmers and the public, farmers’ representatives appealed to the government. “The project should be extended and connected to the missing water bodies so that it benefits all villages in the three western districts and people do not feel discriminated against,” R. Periyasamy, vice president of Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, Coimbatore district, told DT Next.
The implementation also had a political connotation, with the opposition AIADMK sharply criticising the government for shortcomings, while government supporters claimed that the problems would soon be resolved.
Former minister and senior AIADMK politician KA Sengottaiyan told DT Next that the ruling DMK government should fix problems in the pipelines causing leaks and connect the missing water bodies immediately.
“Ninety percent of the project work was completed during the AIADMK government. The DMK government, which has delayed a small part of the project till date, has not invited engineers and L&T workers who made the project possible,” the AIADMK veteran said.
Sengottaiyan pointed out that hundreds of ponds and lakes in various villages were not included in the scheme. “At some places, the water pipes are damaged,” said the Gobichettipalayam MP.
ER Eswaran, MP from Tiruchengode and an ally of the ruling DMK, presented the demand of farmers and other stakeholders from the region to the government to implement the second phase of the project soon.
“The DMK government has undertaken a model project which will serve as a template for implementation of similar projects in other parts of the state. When the project proposal was made during the previous AIADMK government, various water bodies were missing. We and the farmers have requested the state government to identify the missing water bodies and implement the second phase of the Athikadavu-Avinashi project soon,” he added.
The project was designed to extract 1.5 TMC of surplus water from the lower reaches of the Kalingarayan Anicut at Bhavani for 70 days.
Excess water in the Bhavani river and seepage water from the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) canal will ensure water supply to the canal for 70 days.
