Members of the Desiya Thennidiya Nadigal Innaippu Vivasayigal Sangam staged a demonstration at Musiri in Tiruchi district on Saturday demanding the sanction of a scheme to divert flood discharges from Karnataka in the Cauvery to the Ayyaru and the Upparu.
The association said the project would help effectively utilise the flood discharges from Karnataka during monsoon season by feeding about 1,000 irrigation tanks to benefit five lakh acres of cultivable lands.
“Karnataka hardly adheres to the monthly schedule for release of the Cauvery waters as laid down by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court. Often, it discharges huge quantum of water in a short span of time at times of floods. But Tamil Nadu can store only 94 tmcft of water at Mettur dam and the rest flows into the sea. This happens almost every other year. The flood discharges can be effectively utilised by linking the Cauvery and Ayyaru and Upparu rivers,” P. Ayyakannu, president of the association, said after leading the demonstration in front of the office of the Revenue Divisional Officer.
The association demanded construction of a canal from the Mettur dam to divert the surplus flow, which, it said, would help fill 1,000 irrigation tanks besides benefiting about five lakh acres of cultivable land in Salem, Namakkal, Tiruchi, Perambalur, and Ariyalur districts. The scheme would help improve the water table. The State government should immediately examine the scheme and sanction funds for the project, it demanded.
Mr. Ayyakannu said that similar demonstrations would be held in Thuraiyur and Uppilliyapuram in Tiruchi districts in the coming weeks. “If the government still failed to heed our plea, we will resort to a waiting agitation in Chennai,” he said.
