Lok Sabha Debates
Need To Inter-Link Palar And Pennaiyar Rivers In Tamil Nadu. on 18 December, 2014
Sixteenth Loksabha an> Title: Need to inter-link Palar and Pennaiyar rivers in Tamil Nadu.
SHRI B. SENGUTTUVAN (VELLORE): River Palar flows across my constituency, Vellore, to a distance of nearly 100 kms. The river is the source of drinking water to millions of people. During monsoons, when adequate rainfall is received, the water of the River is used to replenish hundreds of tanks and lakes on either side of its banks all through the entire length of my constituency. However, due to inadequate rainfall in the catchment area and due to construction of check dams at various places across the river in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, there has not been any water flow in the river in the past ten years. Due to the river going dry, the agricultural operation in Vellore District has come to an end and every town in the constituency is facing chronic drinking water shortage problem. Come summer, this assumes unmanageable proportions. In order to overcome these problems, the National Water Development Authority as well the Public Works Departments of the State of Tamil Nadu have suggested linking-up of Pennaiyar with Palar whereby the surplus water of Pennaiyar to an extent of 9.3 TMC discharged into Bay of Bengal annually could be diverted and drained into Palar. The Project Report envisages the construction of a canal to a distance of 54 kms. connecting the Pennaiyar at Nedungal Anaicut to Kallar, a tributary of Palar, near Vaniyambadi at a cost of Rs. 253 crore. Presently, the feasibility study appears to have been completed. If this project is completed, it would benefit nearly 2 million people of this arid region with about 99 million cubic metre or 3.5 TMC of water sufficient to cultivate about 9500 hectares and also to overcome the drinking water problem to some extent. Therefore, I urge the Union Ministry for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation to expeditiously complete the Project.