CHENNAI: The water resources department (WRD) has sought diversion of 35.79 hectares of forest land in Namakkal district for the construction of a flood protection embankment linked to the Nanjai Pugalur barrage project across Cauvery river in Karur. The proposal has been accepted by the state project screening committee for further processing under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
According to official documents, the proposed diversion is intended for the formation of a 30m-wide flood bank along the left bank of the Cauvery to mitigate inundation risks caused by backwater spread from the barrage. The Nanjai Pugalur barrage, already constructed across the Cauvery, is designed to handle a flood discharge of 3.6 lakh cusecs.
The WRD said the barrage’s storage creates a backwater spread extending up to 7.5 km upstream, posing flood risks to low-lying villages on the left bank. The proposed embankment is aimed at protecting habitations and farmlands in Velur, Devarayasamuthiram and Pandamangalam.
Documents submitted, while seeking forest clearance, show that the entire 35.79 ha proposed for diversion falls within forest areas in Namakkal. The land parcels include 11.57 ha in Velur, 6.88 ha in Devarayasamuthiram and 17.33 ha in Pandamangalam.
As part of compensatory afforestation, the government has identified 71.584 ha of land in Vagurampatti, Namakkal, which will be transferred to the forest department subject to approval. WRD executive engineer A N Sara of Karur justified the proposal saying that the flood bank was an “essential measure” necessary for the barrage’s safe functioning.