THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The old TS Canal and the two old tunnels on it will get a new lease of life. The state government has cleared a project for the revival of the major waterway of erstwhile Travancore and the two old tunnels on it.
The government has given technical sanction to revive the historic waterway from Anchuthengu backwaters to the Nadayara backwaters, a distance of 12.71 kilometres. The government has given approval to develop the stretch at a cost of Rs 16 crore, and the works will include the renovation of tunnels at Varkala.
The development of the TS had been hanging in limbo for years though the previous LDF government had promised to launch boat services on it within two years.
In October 2007, the then Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan had visited Varkala and had taken a short boat ride into the 722 metre Sivagiri Tunnel - the bigger of the two tunnels.
The 355-metre-long Chilakkoor tunnel is the second one that too will be renovated. The original plan was to link this waterway with the National Waterway-3. At the time there was also a plan to increase the width of the Sivagiri tunnel to 14 metres.
While the present project does not intend to widen the tunnels, the inside lining would be toughened and the canals deepened, according to the Irrigation Department officials.
The construction of the Sivagiri Tunnel begun during the reign of Ayilyam Thirunal and took two decades to complete.
Due to procedural delays, eight years have passed since Achuthanandan announced that the canal stretch would be developed as part of linking it to the NW-3. In August 2013, the state government had issued orders providing administrative sanction for reviving the canal stretch at a cost of Rs 19.5 crore.
Technical sanction for the work was given in December 2014. The Technical Sanction Committee which met in April this year had revised the amount to Rs 16 crore.
New Lease of Life
■ Project to revive old TS Canal and the two old tunnels gets government sanction
■ The historic waterway will be revived from Anchuthengu backwaters to the Nadayara backwaters
■ The government has given approval to develop the stretch at a cost of Rs 16 crore
■ The works will include the renovation of tunnels at Varkala. The development of the canal and the unnels had been hanging in limbo for past eight years
■ The previous LDF government had promised to launch boat services on the canal
■ In 2007, former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan had even inspected the canal and one of the tunnels
■ The original plan was to link this waterway with the National Waterway-3
■ It was also intended to increase the width of the tunnels to 14 m
■ The present project does not have provision to increase the width of the tunnels
