MADURAI: The much-awaited Tamirabarani river interlinking project to benefit people and farmers in Tirunelveli and its neighboring Thoothukudi district is nearing completion, M Appavu, Speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, said on Thursday after inspecting the project work at Arasur and Edayankudi village.

The Tamirabarani-Karumeniyar-Nambiyar interlinking flood carrier channel was a dream project of the late M Karunanidhi, former chief minister. The project, which took off in 2009, was aimed at diverting the flow of surplus water of Tamirabarani, the perennial river in Tirunelveli, to benefit drought affected areas, including Nanguneri, Radhapuram, Thisayanvilai, Sathankulam, Udangudi and Tiruchendur.

Farmers relying on around 50,000 hectares of land in these areas would benefit from the project, for which Rs 369 crore was allotted initially and when works covering the cost of Rs 205 crore were executed till 2011, the project did not take off after the AIADMK came to power, which’s in effect for 10 years, he told reporters.

Under the DMK regime, Chief Minister MK Stalin allocated additional funds to execute the project in time and around 90 per cent of the works have been completed so far. Two men filed cases in the High Court concerning land ownership at ML Theri and the state government is taking steps to succeed in the case and it’s likely to be over in another six months.

Further, he said catering to the needs of people and farmers, CM Stalin-led government is releasing surplus water from dams. VSR Jagadeesh, chairman, District Panchayat, officials from PWD and representatives of local bodies were present during the inspection.