The move to revive the Attappadi Valley Irrigation Project (AVIP) which was abandoned nearly two decades ago by the UDF government is all set to become another battle of nerves between Kerala and Tamil Nadu as in the case of the Mullaperiyar dam.
Earlier, Water Resources Minister P J Joseph during a visit to Mannarkad, had said that the AVIP project would be implemented by making use of the 6.5 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of water awarded to the state under the Cauvery river water sharing agreement. KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala who recently paid a two-day visit to Attappadi had said that he would present a report to the government to revive the AVIP project.
“It is clear that Tamil Nadu is unaware of the real situation. Earlier, when there was a proposal to build a weir across Bhavani at Mukkali, when T M Jacob was the Water Resources Minister, people from Tamil Nadu had come from across the border and blocked the construction work. The protest was on the belief that Kerala was going ahead with the construction of a weir but under the AVIP, a dam will be constructed at Chittur in Attapadi,“ said Francis, executive engineer of Kanhirapuzha irrigation project.
On Wednesday, a five-member team of officials led by Ranganathan, chief engineer of the Water Resources Department, Coimbatore, who had come to inspect the site and report the matter to the Government of Tamil Nadu, was blocked by a group of people at Chittur town near the dam site. They were released after the police intervened.
“The hue and cry is on a project for which no fresh estimate has been prepared or amount set aside in the budget. It has to be seen how far the UDF Government will go in making allotments for the scheme,” convener of the Attapadi Samrakshana Samithi Sukumaran said.
“The works planned in the AVIP scheme according to the original plan of 1971 include the construction of a straight gravity masonry dam at Chittur across Siruvani with a spillway, a penstock and a tunnel. The masonry canal system will have a combined main canal, left and right bank canals, branch canals and distribution system,” said a senior official of the Water Resources Department. The estimate of the project was Rs 83.67 crore in the 1990s. The project is expected to irrigate three crops of paddy in 4,500 hectares and help in the cultivation of sugarcane and cash crops in 3878 hectares.
The project was supposed to begin in 1994. It was expected to be completed in 2004 in a period of ten years. It was in 2007 that a favourable verdict for Kerala was given by the Cauvery Tribunal, Irrigation Department sources said.
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