This was not the right time to commission the Athikadavu-Avinashi Groundwater Recharge Scheme, due to poor water storage, said T.N. Housing and Urban Development Minister S. Muthusamy, in Coimbatore, on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.
The ₹1624.82crore scheme is aimed at providing water for the cultivation of 24,468 acres of in Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Erode districts.
The Minister said that water flow was not adequate in the reservoir. The project has six motors, he explained, and said that at least four motors needed to be operational in order to fill in the 1,045 water tanks that are part of the scheme. However, the water available at present was not enough to run even three motors. CM M.K. Stalin, he added, was keen that the benefits of the scheme reach all the the farmers, but he did not want to commission the project “for name’s sake.”
When the foundation stone for the scheme was laid, farmers were not briefed appropriately about the scheme, and this resulted in several serious setbacks in land acquisition for the scheme, Mr. Muthusamy said. After the DMK government came to power, he said, every farmer was reached out to, and their concerns addressed, he added.
The district administration was continuously monitoring the project and once the water level improves, the scheme would be commissioned.
On a query from a reporter about the value of land acquisition for the Western bypass ring road being brought to zero, he said that the issue having been brought to his knowledge, he would see to it that farmers would not be affected at any cost by the project.
