TIRUPPUR: Though water from the Thirumurthy Dam was released for the second phase of the Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) on August 18, farmers have alleged that it has not reached any of the tail-end areas. Farmers blame water theft as a reason for this.
B Anbarasu, propaganda secretary of the PAP Welfare Association, said, “The state government has directed officials to provide four rounds of water to PAP second phase. On August 18, water was released from the Thirumurthy Dam to irrigate 94,201 acres of agricultural lands.
Though water should be provided for 21 days in the first round, it has not reached Kundadam, Gomangalam, and Gudimangalam areas even after 17 days of release. The main reason for this is water theft in PAP main canal.”
He added, “The PAP main canal is 126 km long. As far as we know there are more than 3,000 connections from where water can be stolen. Due to various reasons including political pressure, and mismanagement, officials are not taking appropriate action to remove these illegal connections. Though the Madras High Court ordered the removal of these connections in July 2023, the officials are yet to take appropriate action. Due to this, the entitled farmers do not get water. We have also filed a contempt petition in this regard.”
“Though the court ordered that there should be no wells or borewells within 50 metres of the PAP canal and that water should not be piped from within 300 metres of the canal, all this is happening. When we file a complaint against this, officials do not take action. Committees formed by government officials to monitor such thefts are also not functioning properly as they never patrol at night.” he said.
A farmer from Gomangalam said, “1,500 acres of agricultural land are watered through the Gomangalam branch of the canal. However, now hundreds of acres are still waiting for water. We have cultivated maize by spending up to Rs 20,000 per acre.”
A senior WRD official said, “The committees were formed under the leadership of the respective Revenue Divisional Officers (RDOs) to prevent water theft in PAP. Officials visit the places where complaints are filed, inspect those areas, and disconnect the EB connection of illegal connections. Besides, the water theft cannot be eradicated in one move. It can be eradicated step by step and we are working on it.”
He added, “In addition to this, the issues in the tail-end areas have been resolved.”
A Mahendran, an electrical engineer of PAP, said, “We continue to submit reports to the court regarding the actions taken against water theft.”