26-year Delay: Work on Melarasampattu dam may begin soon

“Documents for the dam have been pending for more than two decades. They are now being reworked at an estimated cost of Rs 29 crore,” Nandakumar said. “It is not a very big dam, but will encourage agriculture in the area,” he added.

The scheme was first mooted by the then AIADMK MLA K Dharmalingam in 1993 in the legislative Assembly. “It finally came to fruition in 2001 when tenders were invited for an estimated project cost of Rs 10 crore,” Dharmalingam said.

“The dam is meant mainly to store run off water from the nearby hills and rain water, and thus recharge ground water in the locality as the area faces water shortage,” he added.

After Dharmalingam, AIADMK’s K Pandurangan took up the responsibility for the project when he represented the area in the Assembly. “My insistence on the project resulted in an Erode-based contractor being allotted the work. But, when he was about to start the work after completing the initial survey, the 2006 polls were announced and the project had to be stopped as the model code of conduct was put into effect,” said Pandurangan.

He added that the Centre too caused delays by not issuing clearance for use of forest land. “Though the DMK government cancelled the original contractor and invited tenders again, matters were held up when some of the affected farmers moved the Madras High Court” Pandurangan said.

After the 26-year delay, the estimated cost of the project has escalated from Rs10 crore to Rs 29 crore. DMK’s deputy opposition leader Duraimurugan said that CM Edappadi K Palaniswami’s recent announcement sanctioning Rs 400 crore for various irrigation related projects included this dam. “Once the increased compensation is paid to the farmers who moved court, the work will start for this project,”Dharmalingam said.