Delay in Palar link project drains Pennai water into sea

Pennaiyar-Palar link is one of the major river linking schemes in Tamil Nadu and it is aimed at diverting 3.5 tmc of water from the Pennaiyar river to Palar river which remains dry for most part of the year. Usually, South Pennai floods during the months of October to December when the north-east monsoon rains lashes Tamil Nadu. However, this year the Pennai river had received heavy inflow of water even during the south west monsoon itself. Due to floods in South Pennai this year, flood alert had been issued for the areas along the bank in Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Thiruvannamalai, Villupuram and Cuddalore.

The project was announced in the 2013-14 budget by the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. The project was waiting for Central funds for a long time and Jayalalithaa announced that the state government itself would allocate Rs 250 crores for the scheme. However, four years after the announcement, the scheme is yet to take off.

Besides benefiting farmers in Kanchipuram district, the project would augment ground water table in Palar which provides drinking water for Kanchipuram as well as the southern suburbs of Chennai. Even during the driest of summers, water is taken from the Palar bed to supplied to both the districts.

The scheme involves the digging of a feeder canal for 38 kilometre from Then Pennai to Cheyyar river which joins Palar at Thirumukkudal. The scheme would lead to water flow in Cheyyar besides Palar. The river Palar was providing drinking water to the areas of Alandur, Pammal and Anakaputhur earlier, but these areas had been delinked recently and connected to metro water network. At present,Palar supplies 125 lakh litres of water to TWAD board which provides water to Tambaram and Pallavaram municipalities besides Chitalapakkam and Tiruneermalai town panchayats, St Thomas Mount cum Pallavaram Cantonment board.

It also covers the Indian Air Force station at Tambaram, Officers Training Academy at St Thomas Mount, Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur and Madras Export Processing Zone.

The water flow in Palar river had been reduced to after the construction of dams across the river by Karnataka. Besides, Andhra government too is trying to build check dams across the river. Besides, indiscriminate sand quarrying in the Palar bed had also brought down the water table in the river bed drastically.The river’s aquifers would get recharged if the Pennari-Palar link project is completed.

Commenting on the delay, a PWD official said the Centre had passed a new land acquisition act which had increased the cost of compensation for the land owners when government takes up land for projects. Due to the increased compensation, the state government is revising the scheme estimates and working out the details of the project. Once the new estimate is arrived, the works for the project would begin, he assured.