TIRUPPUR: Farmers in Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts who are benefitting from the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) have urged the Water Resource Department (WRD) to dredge its entire main canal before opening water to the fourth zone to prevent wastage.
The 124-kilometre-long main canal starts from the Thirumoorthy Dam located in Udumalaipet in Tiruppur district and ends at Vellakovil on the border of Tiruppur district.
About 3.77 lakh acres coming under PAP is divided into four irrigation zones. The fourth zone comprises around 94,000 acres of farmlands from mile 1 to 124 of the main canal.
S Paramasivam, Tiruppur District President of Tamil Nadu Coconut Farmers Association, said, "PAP irrigates around 4.25 acres of agricultural land in Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts. Out of which, about 3.77 lakh acres are irrigated by water from the Thirumoorthy Dam."
"The main canal has branch and distributary canals extending to more than 1,000 km. Around 75% of the main canal is currently in a damaged state. In addition, in most places, the distributary and branch canals are also in a damaged state. Due to this, water wastage is high. Previously, a round of water would be distributed for only 21 days. Currently, it takes 29 days for one round of water supply due to water wastage," he added.
"We learn that the WRD is planning to renovate the entire PAP system. But it will take time. At present, the fourth round of water has now been opened for the third zone in the PAP. Water will be opened to the fourth zone after the fifth round of the third zone. Before opening water to the fourth zone, the main canal of PAP must be completely dredged because trees have grown in the middle of the canal in many places. In many places, silt accumulates and blocks the flow of water," he added.
G Jeevanantham, a farmer, said, "The government routinely shows bias in allocating funds to maintain irrigation systems in the Coimbatore region. Therefore, the government should immediately provide adequate funds to the WRD to dredge the PAP main canal."
A senior official of WRD (Coimbatore region) said, "We sent a proposal to our department head demanding Rs 10 crore to dredge the PAP system, Lower Bhavani Project (LBP), and Amaravathi irrigation canals in the Coimbatore region. But only Rs 1.5 cr has been allocated for dredging the canals of these projects. Therefore, we have decided to remove blockages and dredge canals only where necessary. The work will be started in due course."