COIMBATORE: Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, while responding to a question raised by former AIADMK minister K A Sengottaiyan on the implementation of the project, minister Durai Murugan said that Athikadavu - Avinashi Groundwater Recharge Project, which was envisaged to irrigate 24,468 acres across Erode, Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts project would come into effect soon. But farmers expressed disappointment over delay in implementing the project.
As per the plan, water would be pumped from the Bhavani River and supplied to 1045 water bodies in Erode, Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts.
The project, which is a five-decade-old demand of people in the region, was launched in February 2019 at an estimated cost of Rs 1916.417 crore, and was to be completed in December 2021. L&T is executing it under the Design, Built, Operate and Transfer (DBOT) system.
K Subramaniam, a coordinator of the Athikadavu - Avinashi Struggle Committee said, “As on May 5, 2021, up to 83.5% of work was completed. The DMK came to power in the third week of May. Almost 32 months have been passed, but the project is yet to come into effect.”
A Gurusamy, president of Kalanjiam Vivasayigal Sangam and a coordinator of the struggle committee said, “As per water resources department statement, all work was completed in September last year. We expected that the project would be come into effect before the North-East Monsoon. But, the inauguration has been extended further despite our repeated demands. If the project was rolled out at least now, if any defects, leakage in pipeline could be found earlier to the next surplus water flow in Cauvery.”
When contacted, S Sivalingam, Chief Engineer of Water Resources Department (Coimbatore Region), said, “All the works have been completed in the project. We have been waiting for water flow from the source of the river. At present, there is enough water flow from the source of the river for the project.”
Meanwhile, farmers in Erode demanded that water for the project should be provided only if surplus water is released from Bhavanisagar Dam. The Thadapalli Arakankottai, Bhavani River Irrigation Farmers Association submitted a petition in this regard to the district administration on Tuesday. Subi Thalapathy, president of the association president stated, “As per Athikadavu-Avinashi Project, no legal claims can be made for the water that is available in Bhavanisagar Dam. It is only a surplus water scheme and everyone should understand that.”
He further said, “Except Kodiveri, Kalingarayan irrigations, along with this there is Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) canal irrigation under Bhavanisagar dam. All these are legally allotted water shares. Only the remaining surplus water can be provided to the project.”
(WIth inputs from Erode)