Dammed by water wars, TN wary of safety bill

“The proposed interlinking of rivers mooted by the state to link Pamba-Achankoil-Vaippar continues to be a sleeping giant for more than a decade as the stake holder Kerala continues to be elusive on the project. Similarly, for the past 12 years there is no much progress in the Krishna–Godavari–Cauvery interlinking and the Palar and Pennaiyar river dispute issues,” the official said.  The Kerala-based link project envisages diversion of 20 TMC water, which should be only 20 per cent of the surplus waters of Pamba and Achankoil rivers of Kerala to Tamil Nadu to irrigate an ayacut of 91,400 hectares in the dry taluks of Sankarankoil, Kovilpatti, Sivagiri, Srivilliputhur, Rajapalayam, Sathur and Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu. This diversion will also help to generate power of 500 megawatt for Kerala. Though the government of Tamil Nadu gave its acceptance, Kerala is not in favour of this project, the official said.

Tamil Nadu has been pressing for Nirar – Nallar multipurpose straight cut scheme, an alternative to the present circuitous route from Upper Nirar to Sholayar reservoir, then to Parambikulam reservoir and then through the contour canal, to Thirumurthy reservoir to directly feed the water into the Nallar stream to avoid water loss. But Kerala informed that this project is a new project not within the purview of the review of the earlier signed agreement and not acceptable for the same, the official said. According to TN, the Neyyar irrigation project is also an issue pending for more than two decades, the first and second stages of Neyyar Irrigation Project, were proposed in 1965 and the Kerala abruptly stopped water supply from March 2004. Though, bilateral discussions were held several times, no solution could be evolved till now. In the year 2012, the state has filed a suit in the Supreme Court and is still pending, sources said.

Repairs to Shenbagavalli Anicut in Periyar Basin in Kerala is pending for years. About 10,924 acres in Tirunelveli and Virudhunagar districts are being irrigated. To carry out the repairs of the Shenbagavalli Anicut, the TN government is continuously engaging with the Kerala, again the matter is now under litigation. “In case of Pennaiyar that originates at Nandidurg in Karnataka and flows through Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu there are issues,” said an informed engineer. The TN government in 2018, filed a suit before the Supreme Court against the Government of Karnataka which is undertaking the works of construction of dam across the Markandeya River, a tributary of Pennaiyar and diversion structures in violation of the Madras-Mysore Agreement of 1892. The case is pending before the Supreme Court, the official added.

The latest development is the Centre has sent the draft detailed project report of Godavari Inchampalli - Janampet– Cauvery (Grand Anicut) link project to the TN government and the same is now under consideration, sources added.