Alagiri slams AIADMK for shelving river interlinking project in Nellai

Taking exception to the CM’s statement during the Nanguneri bypoll campaign that the project, which was launched by the DMK without acquiring land, would be completed in 2020, Alagiri asked Palaniswami to detail the efforts made for the project in the last eight years of AIADMK rule.

Claiming that 50 per cent of works were completed in the 2006-11 DMK regime which spent Rs 214 of the Rs 369 crore allotted for the project in the two years since its inauguration, Alagiri wondered if the incumbent CM could deny the fact that it was shelved by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa merely because it was conceived and inaugurated by the DMK.

Advising the CM not to make false promises and statements about the project, the TNCC chief also clarified that about 694 hectares in Tirunelveli and 106 hectares in Thoothukudi were acquired for the project during the DMK regime.

“None can deny that the AIADMK regime was forced to implement the project following a contempt petition filed in the Madras High Court,” the TNCC chief remarked, exuding confidence that the voters of Nanguneri would teach a lesson to the AIADMK for shelving the project which aims to irrigate 50,000 hectares in Tirunelveli by preventing 14.5 tmcft of Tamirabarani water from draininginto the sea.