CHENNAI: Stoutly denying the charge of AIADMK that the works on the Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar river linking project have slowed down after the DMK government came to power, Water Resources Minister Durai Murugan said, “Indeed, during the past two years, the works are going on in full swing, and definitely, the government led by Chief Minister MK Stalin will complete the project expeditiously.”
The minister was replying to the issue raised by a host of members in the state assembly. Tracing the origin of the project, Water Resources Minister Durai Murugan said that originally it was planned to link Mahanadi and Gundar and later it was made as an intra-river linking project in Tamil Nadu. In 2020, during the AIADMK regime, Rs 600 crore was allocated for acquiring land for the project. Of this, only Rs 34.31 crore was spent and the rest of the amount was returned to the government. 71.6 acres of land could only be acquired, he said.
After the DMK government came to power, Rs 312 crore was allocated in two years and 698.97 acres of land were acquired. Unlike during the AIADMK government, the rest of the amount was kept in a deposit and could be used for acquiring land. During the year 2023-24, Rs 554.7 crore has been allocated for acquiring land. During 2020-21, no work on laying canals took place for this project. But in the past two years, Rs 117.9 crore was spent on laying canals. So far, 64% of the canal laying works have been completed and Rs 115 crore has been allocated for 2023-24 for canal laying works.
Earlier, raising the issue, C Vijaya Baskar (AIADMK) requested that works of the Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar river linking project should be expedited. He said it is a historical project and all chief ministers, since the time of K Kamaraj, worked for implementing the project as it would benefit seven drought-prone southern districts.
During the AIADMK regime, the then Chief Minister Edappadi K Palnaiswami inaugurated the laying of the canal for this by allocating necessary funds. Land acquisition works and canal laying works have slowed down during the present government, he said. M Chinnadurai (CPM) also spoke on the issue.