HC seeks State’s reply on water channel work

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered the Erode Collector and the Public Works Department to file a detailed report on a plea moved by an Erode-based farmer challenging the tender called by the department to renovate the Kalingarayan Water Channel in two years. The petitioner, N Senthil Kumar, had stated that the renovation work, if carried on for two years, would prevent water flow and affect farmers dependent on the Bhavani river for irrigating long-term crops.

The petitioner had said that farmers living along the Kalingarayan water channel receive water for at least 320 days in a year and the tender called by the PWD for expansion, renovation and upgrading of the channel at a cost of `76.80 crore will only prevent water supply.

Counsel for the petitioner argued, “When farmers are cultivating long-term crops such as sugarcane, plantain and turmeric by depending upon the water from Kalingarayan channel, the release of water from the channel shall not be stopped under the guise of renovation, expansion or upgradation.”

He also wanted the court to direct the authorities to revise the tender notification after getting the views of farmers.The two-member vacation bench of Justices R Mahadevan and Anita Sumanth sought for the government to respond to the plea and adjourned the petition to two weeks.