‘Ties with Kerala will help Anamalayar dam project’

Tirupur: Animal husbandry minister K Radhakrishnan on Tuesday said the state’s cordial relationship with Kerala might help obtain latter’s nod to construct the proposed dam across the Anamalayar river. He was in the city to attend a meeting with the representatives of farmers to discuss the feasibility of implementing the project.
“When the floods devastated the neighbouring state recently, we were quick to offer a helping hand. Tamil people also individually supported the flood-hit people there. Government employees have, meanwhile, donated one-month salary to the Kerala relief fund as requested by chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami,” he told reporters here.

Pointing to the cordial relationship that TN people share with their counterparts in Kerala, the minister said this might help them get nod from Kerala, as mandated in an inter-state agreement, to construct the dam across the Anamalayar river in Western Ghats.

When asked about a possible unfavourable stand from the Kerala government, Radhakrishnan said the AIADMK government was positive about the outcome.

“Though the project idea was conceived as early as 1985, it did not get adequate force. But we are determined to build the dam, as it will benefit more than four lakh farmlands, which are part of Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) irrigation scheme. The chief minister had held a special meeting to take stock of situation on Monday and directed me to talk to farmers to know their take,” the minister said.

Earlier, farmers rued that the long-pending demand was yet to be realized.

A senior Public Works Department official, who participated in the meeting, said an expert committee, which was constituted by the government for studying feasibility of the project, was likely to submit its report within a week. “There will be four ways to implement the project, which will bring an additional 2.5 thousand million cubic feet water to the PAP irrigation scheme.”