Avinashi-Athikadavu scheme foundation stone by month end

Speaking after inaugurating a memorial, built at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore, for farmer’s leader C Narayanaswamy Naidu at Vaiyampalayam near Coimbatore, the Chief Minister said that Jayalalithaa government will take up the linking of Godavari-Cauvery river’s.  “About 2500 TMC water from the Godavari goes waste into the sea. The plan envisages bringing 200 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu through Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This project will solve the issue of farmers, who face crop loss during failure of monsoon,” he said. 

Announcing that the foundation stone for Athikadavu-Avinashi scheme, proposed at an outlay of Rs 1,652 crore will be laid within February end, he added that certain areas like Annur West, Karamadai, Periyanaickenpalayam and SS Kulam, which were left out will be included in the second phase of the project. “Tenders have been called and the project would be implemented entirely with state funds,” he said. 

Further, Palaniswami said, “A food park at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore is getting ready near Chennai and the process to acquire to more than 300 acres of land are underway. Cold storage facilities have been created to store their produce and sell vegetables online in ten districts. A veterinary research centre, which will be the biggest in Asia, is being set up in Tamil Nadu.” 

To improve the groundwater level under the ‘kudimaramathu’ scheme, the CM said the state government has proposed to build check dams in rivers and streams across Tamil Nadu. “A four-member team of retired chief engineers had visited every district across the state to implement the project to prevent water from draining waste into the sea. Works have already begun and Rs 328 crores have been allocated for the project in the first phase,” he said. 

Participating in the event, the Chief Minister also unveiled the statue of Narayanaswami Naidu. The Minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development, SP Velumani, MLA’s Arukutty, OK Chinnaraj, Ettimadai Shanmugam, PRG Arunkumar, Kasthuri Vasu, Amman Arjunan, Member of Parliament Mahendran and former Mayor S M Velusamy were among those others who took part in the event.