Athikadavu-Avinashi irrigation project inauguration: Farmers urge govt to connect 1,400 more water bodies

CHENNAI: Even as farmers of the Kongu region are exuberant over the commissioning of their 70-year dream, the Athikadavu-Avinashi project, coming true, they have urged the MK Stalin government to connect additional 1,400 water bodies to the canal, not connected at present.

M Velusamy, a functionary of a farmer association of Valayapalayam village in Tiruppur district, part of the Athikadavu protest committee, thanked the DMK government for commissioning the project on Saturday but rued that not all water bodies in Coimbatore, Erode and Tiruppur are connected to the irrigation project. “We appeal to the government to ensure all the missing water bodies are linked to the project,” he said.

The canal will benefit nearly 1,045 water bodies and thousands of farmers in the western districts of the State. A 67-year-old dream has come true today much to the joy of farmers. Started belatedly, the project will remain incomplete if not extended and expanded to meet the interest of farmers and the public, farmer leaders have appealed to the government. “The project should be expanded and interconnected with the missing water bodies so that the project will benefit all the villages in the three western districts, ensuring that people don’t feel discriminated”, R Periyasamy, vice-president of Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, Coimbatore district told DT Next.

The implementation has had a political colour too as the opposition AIADMK slammed the the government for inadequacies, while those supporting the government claim that issues would be addressed soon.

Former minister and AIADMK senior leader KA Sengottaiyan told DT Next that the ruling DMK government should fix problems in the pipelines leading to leakages, and connect the missing water bodies in a warfooting.

“Ninety per cent of the project works were completed during the AIADMK regime. The DMK government which delayed a small part of a project to date, didn’t invite engineers and L&T workers who made the project possible,” said the AIADMK veteran.

Sengottaiyan flagged that hundreds of ponds and lakes in various villages were not included in the scheme. “Water pipes are damaged in places,” said the Gobichettipalayam MLA.

ER Eswaran, the Tiruchengode MLA and an ally of the ruling DMK placed before the government the demand of the farmers and other stakeholders from the region to implement the second phase of the project soon.

“The DMK government has executed a model project which is a sample for implementing similar ones elsewhere in the State. When the proposal for the project was made during the previous AIADMK rule, various water bodies were missing. We and the farmers have requested the state government to identify the missing water bodies and implement the second phase of the Athikadavu-Avinashi project soon,” he added.

The project was designed to draw surplus water of 1.5 TMC for 70 days from the downstream of Kalingarayan anicut in Bhavani.

Surplus water in the Bhavani River and seepage from the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) canal will ensure a water supply for 70 days in the canal.