CHENNAI: Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar on Sunday categorically denied the allegations by former PWD Minister Durai Murugan regarding the setting up of a new reservoir at Thervoy Kandigai village in Tiruvallur district for adding water resources for Chennai city and repairing the check dam across Kosasthalai river which was damaged in 2015 rain.
He said the allegations had no basis. Durai Murugan had levelled these charges to divert people’s attention from the case before the Madras High Court regarding the Rs 400 crore alleged corruption in the construction of the new Secretariat complex.
The State government issued a G.O. in January 2012 for constructing a new reservoir with a capacity of 1,000 mcft by merging the tanks at Kannankottai and Thervoy Kandigai in Tiruvallur district. This was aimed at augmenting the water resources for Chennai city.
Considering the ever increasing water requirement of Chennai city, work on the new reservoir began in September 2013 and steps were taken to acquire 1,485 acres, but the acquisition process was delayed since owners of lands moved the court seeking a higher compensation.
However, as on date, land acquisition work for the reservoir has been completed and 65 per cent of construction work for the reservoir has been completed. Further, steps are being taken to complete the reservoir on time.
In this regard, the minister recalled that when Durai Murugan was PWD Minister in 2008, Tamirabarani-Karumeniyar-Nambiar linking work began even before land acquisition works were started and environment clearance was not given. Only after the AIADMK came to power, environmental clearance was obtained and work was restarted.
Regarding the charge on constructing a check dam across Kosasthalai river, Jayakumar said that the check dam was completed in 2014 at an expenditure of `28.19 crore. But, this dam was damaged due to the heavy rain in 2015.