ERODE: The Athikadavu-Avinashi project, a 60-year-old demand of people in Tiruppur, Erode and Coimbatore districts, will become operational on Saturday, Housing and Urban Development Minister S Muthusamy has said.
The Rs 1,916.41-crore project will help fill water in 1,045 ponds across the three districts in the first phase.
Speaking to TNIE, the minister said “CM MK Stalin will launch the project through video conference. Around 50 lakh people are expected to benefit from this project.”
The foundation stone for the project was laid at Avinashi in Tiruppur district on 28 February 2019. However, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the work was halted for a few months. Due to non -availability of surplus water in the Kalingarayan canal, the project could not be commissioned.
Farmers have welcomed the development. TK Periyasamy, secretary of the Athikadavu-Avinashi Project Agitation Committee, said, “ The demand for an irrigation scheme for areas south of the Bhavani river and north of the Noyyal river arose about 60 years ago. The AIADMK government laid the foundation stone for this project.
Now the DMK government has completed it. Initially, the DMK and the AIADMK governments had planned to take water from Pillur Dam in Coimbatore through a canal. They thought groundwater level could be raised through this. For this, both AIADMK and DMK governments did various studies. But it was not feasible, so the plan was changed to pump water from the Bhavani river below the Kalingarayan canal.”