'Feasibility study under way to build reservoirs with latest tech'

TIRUCHY: Water flowing in several rivers across the state go waste during certain seasons and the government has been planning to construct reservoirs to store water with technical advancement, said the Minister for Water Resources Duraimurugan, here on Saturday.

Speaking after inspecting the Upper Anicut (Mukkombu) here, the Duraimurugan said, there are certain periods that a huge quantity of water has been released from Mettur and the state government has been planning to store such water for irrigation purposes.

“With water from many rivers across the state going waste, the government has decided to construct at least two reservoirs to store water,” he said.

“Previously, technical experts had expressed the least possibility to construct reservoirs owing to various factors but now, the technology has advanced. So we have planned to study the feasibility of constructing reservoirs in the state which would soon be materialised,”, the Minister said.

Meanwhile, he claimed that the Mettur-Sarabanga project which was undertaken by the AIADMK government had not stored even a single drop of water. He also mentioned that there was no politics in the water projects in Tamil Nadu and stressed that the Cauvery-Gundaru linking project was not a project of the AIADMK government but it is a central project and they can not claim ownership for the project.

Stating that the water from Thamirabarani river and the Cauvery river go waste into sea during rainy seasons, he said that the DMK government would initiate steps to store such water for irrigation purposes. “As of now, almost all the water bodies across the state are full and there will not be any problem for irrigation,” the Minister stated.

In the meantime, the regularisation of employment for the temporary staff in the department would be made under phased manner. “The process of regularisation of employment would commence from this year and would be completed within five years,” he said.