Major portion of work for drinking water supply scheme in Erode completed, says T.N. Minister

Minister for Housing S. Muthusamy said the project, to lay pipelines to connect 445 water bodies, will be completed in March; farmers whose land had been acquired for the project will be compensated, he said

Nearly 97.07% of the work under the Athikadavu–Avinashi Ground Water Recharge and Drinking Water Supply Scheme has been completed, while work is on to lay pipelines to connect 445 water bodies, and this will be completed by March 2023, said S. Muthusamy, Minister for Housing and Urban Development in Erode on Friday.

The Minister, along with Collector H. Krishnanunni held a meeting with officials and reviewed the progress of the scheme at the Collectorate. The scheme is being implemented at a total cost of ₹ 1,758.88 crore to fill 32 Public Works Department tanks, 42 union tanks and 971 ponds in the districts of Erode, Tiruppur and Coimbatore. The scheme will also help irrigate 24,468 acres. So far, ₹ 1,603.66 crore has been spent for the project.

Addressing the media, the Minister said that a major portion of the work has been completed; pipelines have been laid to connect 600 water bodies, while the rest will be connected by March.

The Minister said that the previous AIADMK government had failed to provide compensation to the farmers whose land was acquired for the scheme. “We have planned to provide compensation to the farmers now”, he added.

An engineer said that of the total proposal to lay high-density polyethylene pipelines (HDPE) across 797.80 km, pipelines had been laid across 780.80 km, while 267.10 km of MS pipelines have been laid against the proposal of 267.50 km. Of the total 63.15 km where electrical transmission lines are to be laid, lines have been laid across 61.35 km while the rest would be completed soon.

The engineer also said that installation of Outer Management System (OMS) work in tanks and ponds is in progress, as 1,036 OMS have been installed against the proposed 1,045 numbers. Testing and commissioning of the project is expected to begin in January 2023, the engineer added.

The project proposes to divert 1.5 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of surplus water from River Bhavani from downstream of the Kalingarayan anicut by pumping through pipelines and refilling the water bodies.