HC directs State to complete land acquisition for Phase I of river linking project this fiscal

Madurai High Court directs State to complete Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar river linking project by 2024-25, allocating ₹418.65 crore for land acquisition.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the State government to complete land acquisition process for the Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar intra-State river linking project within the 2024-25 financial year itself as ₹418.65 crore have already been allocated for land acquisition for the Phase I work.

A Division Bench of Justices R. Suresh Kumar and G. Arul Murugan directed the Water Resources Department to simultaneously carry out canal digging work on a war-footing. The court directed the Engineer-in-Chief of WRD to file a status / progress report to the court on the project once every three months.

The court was hearing the public interest litigation petition filed in 2019 by A. Murugesan of Pudukottai seeking a direction to the authorities to take immediate steps to implement the river linking project. Pursuant to the court direction, the Engineer-in-Chief of WRD was present before the court during the hearing to assist it through videoconference.

The court was told that the 262.19-km-long Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar link canal project was being implemented in three phases. Phase I from the Cauvery to South Vellar for a distance of 118.45 km; Phase II from South Vellar to the Vaigai for 109.69 km; and Phase III from the Vaigai to the Gundar 34.04 km.

The State government had accorded in-principle approval of Phase-I of the project with an outlay of ₹6,941 crore. Environmental clearance has been obtained from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). The administrative sanction has also been accorded. The total land required for completion of the first phase of the project was 1200.78 hectares in Karur, Tiruchi and Pudukottai districts. In Karur district 92% of the land acquisition work was over, in Tiruchi district 73% and in Pudukottai district 64%. The remaining land acquisition work is yet to be completed, the court was told.

Taking into account that at least 10 petitions were filed before the court in connection with the issue either for re-alignment of the canal or seeking higher compensation for land acquisition, the court directed the petitions to be tagged along with the present public interest litigation petition for a combined and comprehensive hearing. The court posted the matter to November 4 for the filing of the first periodical report on the status of the project.

The court observed that it was open to the State government to seek additional funds from the Central government and in such circumstances, the court hoped that the Centre would consider the demand from the State, taking into account the importance of the project and sanction necessary funds.