Expedite ground water scheme, urge protesters

Despite being nearer to the Western Ghats Coimbatore and other western districts were experiencing water scarcity. The water level has dropped below 1,600 ft to 1,700 ft mark. Redressing the water related issues in this region may be the priority for the Chief Minister who hails from this region, believes people. 

“As Palanisamy was the Public Works Department (PWD) Minister he knows the depth of these issues. As Chief Minister, we hope he will expedite works in the right direction,” said P K Selvaraj, Secretary of Athikadavu Kousika River Development Association. 

On one hand people have been fighting for decades to expedite the Athikadavu-Avinashi Ground Water Recharge Scheme that has been pending for more than six decades. On the other hand, they were also objecting to Kerala’s move of constructing six check dams across River Bhavani that flows through Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode before draining into River Cauvery.

On Sunday, more than 7,000 persons including nearly 3,000 women from various villages in Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode districts took part in a mass fast organised by the Athikadavu-Avinashi Scheme Protest Committee at VOC Ground at Avinashi in Tirupur district, to expedite the long pending scheme. 

The scheme was aimed at recharging the ground water table by filling tanks, lakes, ponds and other waterbodies with surplus water from Bhavani River. It will greatly benefit lakhs of people in Mettupalayam, Avinashi, Sulur, Tirupur North, Perundurai, Bhavani Sagar and in Kangayam Assembly segments in three districts. 

Organiser of the protest committee T K Velliangiri told DTNext that River Bhavani flood once in every four or five years. “This surplus water flows into River Cauvery and drains into the Bay of Bengal. This project will prevent several TMCs of water from getting wasted and benefit people in the region that is fast turning into a desert,” he said. 

He added that the one-day fast was to mark the 1st anniversary of the indefinite fast they organised in this region to fulfil the long-pending election assurances of various political parties to complete the Athikadavu-Avinashi Ground Water Recharge Scheme. On February 8, 2016, people went on an indefinite fast for implementing the scheme. 

“We concluded it after 12 days on February 19, after late chief minister J Jayalalithaa passed a G.O. sanctioning Rs 3.27 crore to conduct a survey for the project. It is a year now but the project has not been initiated,” Velliangiri lamented and added that the delay has made it difficult for people of the seven Assembly segments to get water for drinking, irrigation and cattle. 

The organiser said that the government has taken enough time to consider the scheme and it is high time they implemented it. The committee and villagers who took part in the protests have decided to wait till (Tamil New Year) for the government to start implementing the scheme or organise mass protests, to force the government to do so.