COIMBATORE: Even as it has been a year since the implementation of the Athikadavu-Avinashi Groundwater Recharge Project, there has been no progress on the implementation of Phase II of the project which aims to fill over 1,400 ponds with surplus water from Bhavani River.
Meanwhile, the government formed a committee recently to conduct a hydrology study to rectify the issues in carrying water to ponds that have not received water so far under the project
K Subramaniam, coordinator of the Athikadavu-Avinashi ‘Struggle Committee’ said, "Only 1,045 ponds were included in the first phase of the project, which was started in 2019. To include the ponds that were left over from the first phase, the previous AIADMK government simultaneously started a preliminary feasibility study and estimated that an additional 1,400 ponds would be included in the second phase."
"The DMK government took almost three and a half years to complete the remaining 16% of the works in the first phase and eventually implemented them in August 2024. However, there has been no progress on the second phase and the current government did not even prepare a Detailed Project Report," he added.
D Prabhu, another coordinator of the committee, said, "Over 150 ponds under the first phase have not obtained water properly. As there is no capacity addition in the first phase of the project, pumping of water to the ponds that did not receive water was not rectified. Another challenge we were informed is there is increasing power consumption to operate the pumps of the Phase 1 project. It seems that the current government has no interest in implementing the second phase by laying the pipelines adjacent to the first phase."
A Water Resources Department senior official said, "No government order has been passed to prepare a DPR for the second phase of the project. To rectify complaints in the first phase, the government has formed a committee to conduct a hydrology study."