VELLORE: A check dam cuts across the Palar at Pullur on the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border. Earlier, one could have scarcely told where one State ended and where the other began. Now, it is a study in contrast. Ever since the downpour, the Palar riverbed on the Andhra side is brimming, while that on Tamil Nadu side is running dry.
Palar snakes its way into the State through Pullur, a small border village lying partly in Tamil Nadu and partly on the Andhra side, before fanning out into many tributaries to irrigate the farmlands. It’s here that the Andhra government decided to raise the height of a check dam on its side from six feet to 15.
The part of Pullur that falls on the Andhra side comes under its Kuppam Assembly constituency, the seat from which Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu got elected as an MLA in the last election. Naidu has ambitious plans for his constituency, and one of them is developing Pullur into a tourist destination with boating facility, the residents say. Raising the height of the check dam on Palar from six feet to 15 feet was part of the plan. Naidu gave his nod for development schemes aimed at harvesting water from the Palar.
The works started when the entire Tamil Nadu was busy with the Assembly election, and by the time the issue was brought to State attention, construction was over. “The State should urge the Centre to bring Andhra Pradesh to the negotiation table under the provisions of the River Board Act. The fact that many political parties and farmers’ associations are pitching for direct negotiations is a welcome step,” said activist A Asokan.