VELLORE:Former Vellore MP Abdul Rahman has appealed to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandra Babu Naidu, to request Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Karnataka government for a speedier implementation of the Pennar (Somasila)-Palar-Cauvery (Grand Anaicut) link project.
He proposed this as a project to be in part with linking the major rivers of the Mahanadhi-Godavari-Krishna-Pennar-Palar-Cauvery, benefiting the Palar river basin system in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Rahman, who raised the issue in parliament under Rule 377 of the Lok Sabha in 2014, said that the Ministry of Water Resources pointed out that the concurrence of Andhra Pradesh was crucial for linking of the major rivers. At a meeting convened by the ministry, the Tamil Nadu government stressed the need for a quick implementation of the Mahanadhi-Godavari-Krishna-Palar-Cauvery scheme that would benefit Chittor district in Andhra Pradesh, as well as Vellore, Villupuram, Thiruvallur and Cuddalore districts in Tamil Nadu, besides Puducherry.
Excess water from the Mahanadi, Godavari and Krishna would benefit Chittoor town and enter Tamil Nadu via Arakonam before proceeding to Villupuram and Cuddalore districts, thereby benefiting a larger community in both the States, including the Upper Palar region, with a little tweaking, Rahman said.
According to him, water from Chittoor town to Kuppam could be re-routed with the help of a new canal which can flow into Tamil Nadu near Vaniyambadi. The Palar river, which flows through Chittoor district, can irrigate around 30,000 acres of land and in Tamil Nadu, it can irrigate 75,000 acres of land.
Rahman has also urged the Andhra CM to hold talks with his Karnataka counterpart to get additional water from the Nethravathi river project, which the Karnataka government has been actively pursuing.
The Karnataka government has worked out tapping around 22 tmc of water from Nethravathi to benefit Chikkaballapura, Tumkur, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Ramanagaram and Kolar districts. Since around 2,000 tmc of water from Nethravathi was getting drained into the Arabian Sea, this project could also be tweaked to tap around 100 tmc of water so that the excess water could be drained into the Palar river in Kolar district.