There was overwhelming support from farmers for the Tamirabarani-Karumeniyar- Nambiar river interlinking project at a public hearing organised by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board here on Tuesday. The farmers unanimously sought the intervention of government authorities to commence the project at the earliest.
The first phase of the Rs.369-crore project was aimed at providing water supply to drought-prone areas, especially, Sathankulam, Thisayanvilai and its surroundings, Collector M. Ravikumar, who presided over the hearing, said. An area of 23,040 hectares, including 9, 559 hectares in Tuticorin district, 252 irrigation tanks and 5,220 wells would benefit from the project. About 50, 000 people would get access to potable water. The much awaited project would convert surplus water, which enters the sea, into meaningful resource for farmers. The Tamirabrani holds an average of 48,487 million cusecs of water, annually. Over the last 75 years, an average of 13, 758 million cusecs of surplus water from Srivaikuntam dam was being let into the ocean annually. This year, 17,210 million cusecs of surplus water went to sea over a period of 41 consecutive days after the onset of northeast monsoon. Explaining the project details, he said that an interlinking channel would extend up to a distance of 73 kilometres (64 km in Tirunelveli and nine km in Tuticorin). S.P. Muthuraman, an environmental activist, Tirunelveli, said prior environmental clearance was mandatory to commence the project and any violation of this procedure would attract legal action. R.S. Murugan alleged that there was no transparency in organising such public hearings.
In addition to this hearing a private power plant conducted a public hearing “clandestinely,” without informing the media. S.P. Udhaya kumar, anti-nuclear activist, said the project was only meant for farmers and no drop of water should be supplied to Kudankulam nuclear power plant and other industries.