TIRUPPUR: Farmers urged the public works department (PWD) to repair the damaged portions of the Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) canal in Tiruppur and Coimbatore district as soon as possible, as a lot of water is wasted.
According to official data, the canal was constructed in 1960s and branch canals extensions were carried out till 1990s. While the main canal is 125 km long, the branch canals are spread over 1,000 km. It is an important source of water for farmers in Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts, and it carries water across to 600 villages from Thirumoorthy Dam in Udumalaipet to Vellakoil.
PAP Farmers Welfare Association Treasurer S Vijayasekaran said, "Apart from water theft, water loss is another major issue in PAP canal. Several damages are found in the main canal of PAP canal, including severe damages in the main canal in several parts in Udumalaipet Taluk namely T Balapatti, Poolanginar, Poocharapatti and Negamam.
According to official estimates, 1 TMC of water (single round) from the canal is supplied to 1 lakh acres of agricultural land. The volume of water is enough, but the water is not adequate for agricultural lands in the irrigation zones, so officials are taking 2 TMC water from the canal. We believe at least 1 TMC water is lost through water leakages from the damaged wall of the PAP canal."
Meanwhile, farmers from the tail-end of the canal also point out the damaged walls are causing a big problem for them.
PAP Vellakoil Branch Water Conservation Association (Kangayam-Vellakoil) president P Velusamy said, "Damaged walls have not been repaired despite several complaints. Since, the damaged section of the main canal is an important channel, water loss poses a big headache for farmers in the tail-end of the canal. PAP officials have admitted that 20% of water is lost is during transmission, one of the main reasons for which is water loss through damaged canals. As a result, we are unable to get the complete water share of 40% from the past 20 years."
PWD- Water Resource Organisation Coimbatore - Chief Engineer P Muthusamy said, "There are several damages and leakages in PAP canal and we have received a lot of complaints from farmers. Major rehabilitation works have not been carried out on a large scale in the water channel for the past several decades."
"After initial assessment from PWD, we found that the canal is severely damaged in various places and we have decided to repair the damages with high-tensile concrete support. In order to get the estimate of the damage, we have issued a tender for surveying the entire canal, including the branches. The final report will be sent to the state government for approval and another tender will be released for final construction. We have estimated that the entire cost of the project will be around Rs 1,500 crore. This is the first time such a huge project to revamp the entire canal will be carried out."