Cauvery-Gundar river link work set to take off

Tamil Nadu is all set to launch its formidable intra-State river linking venture by constructing a canal from the Cauvery to the Vaigai and the Gundar. The huge venture seeks to divert surplus flows from the Cauvery to the water scarce southern elements of the State.

Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami will lay the muse stone for the primary section of the venture at a perform to be held at Kunnathur in Viralimalai taluk in Pudukottai district on Sunday. The first vital step in the direction of the linking of the Cauvery and Gundar rivers was made with the commissioning of the barrage throughout Cauvery at Mayanur in Karur district in 2014.

The barrage will type the top of the brand new link canal which can run a distance of 262.19 km to carry the excess waters from the Cauvery to the South Vellar, the Vaigai river and at last the Gundar. The canal can have a capability to carry about 6,000 cusecs of water.

The authorities had given an in-principal approval for executing the primary section of the venture from the Cauvery to the South Vellar, a distance of about 118.45 km, at an estimated value of ₹6,941 crore. The Public Works Department has determined to search monetary help from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for the venture, sources within the division stated.

In the primary section, the canal will run via Karur (47.23 km), Tiruchi (18.89 km) and Pudukottai district (52.32 km). “The land acquisition process for the first phase is under way in all three districts,” a senior PWD officer advised The Puucho.

To begin with, the PWD has awarded tenders for digging a canal for a size of about 4.10 km from the Mayanur barrage at an estimate of ₹171 crore and one other 5.35 km stretch in Tiruchi and Pudukottai districts at an estimate of ₹160 crore. The first section of the canal will irrigate 42,170 acres and feed 342 irrigation tanks in Karur, Tiruchi and Pudukottai districts.

The second section will contain linking the South Vellar and Vaigai rivers, a distance of about 110 km, and the third remaining section will link the Vaigai with the Gundar (34.04 km).

The venture kinds a part of the peninsular rivers’ growth part of the National Perspective Plan envisaging diversion of surplus flows of the Mahanadi basin and the Godavari basin to the water-short Krishna, Pennar, Cauvery, Vaigai and Gundar basins within the South.

The inauguration of the venture marks the realisation of a century-old dream of the folks of Pudukottai. “The demand has been aired since the days of the British rule. Even if the flood waters of Cauvery is diverted once in three to four years, the district will stand to benefit much,” noticed G.S.Dhanapathy, 71, State normal secretary, Farmers Forum of India, who had been serving as treasurer of a committee fashioned in Pudukottai to foyer for the trigger for practically 40 years now.

“It marks a new dawn for us and the project will help Pudukottai shed the tag of being drought prone. Whichever government comes to power in future, should complete it,” he stated.