Farmers have sought to know from the district administration the status of the long-pending Thenpennai-Palar river link project. They demanded the Public Works Department (PWD) submit a report on the work taken up and proposals to build check dams across the Palar and its channels in Vellore district.
At the farmers’ grievance redress meeting on Friday, a number of farmers raised the issue of Andhra Pradesh continuing work to construct check dams across Palar river.
N. Ragupathy, a farmer, said the Thenpennai - Palar river link project has been pending for 10 years. “The project envisages diverting surplus water from Thenpennai to Palar through a nearly 60-km canal. This is only an intra-State project but the State government has been delaying its implementation. In 2011, they said about ₹400 crore was being allocated but nothing happened. The district administration should provide the status of this project for us,” he said.
He said that sand mining had pushed down the Palar riverbed while its supply channels were at an elevated level. “We have been asking the PWD to build check dams across these channels so that it would facilitate flow of water to the lakes. While officials say that one or two such structures have been constructed, we want them to submit a report on the structures constructed and those proposed,” he said. He said Andhra Pradesh had been constructing a bridge at Palaru village and proposed to build a 12-metre high dam below the bridge across the Palar.
Farmers said this was against the riparian rights of farmers in the State. They said that following Andhra Pradesh’s government’s move to build a check dam across a tributary of Kosasthalaiyar river, there would be no water flow to Tiruvannamalai, Chennai, Vellore and Kancheepuram.
Perumal Reddiyar, another farmer, said the government should grant pension to farmers aged above 60. “Those enrolled under the Farmers Security Scheme should be given a monthly pension of ₹2,000,” he said.
Memo issued
With farmers complaining that officials of some departments were not attending the farmers’ grievance redress meetings, T. Sengottaiyan, district revenue officer, said a memo would be issued to officers who did not attend the meeting.
“We will issue circulars asking first-line officers to attend meetings from next time,” he told the farmers.