CM made false statements about LBP, Kalingarayan canals: farmers
Farmer leaders say Mr. Stalin, during a campaign speech, gave an incorrect number with regard to the acres irrigated by the LPB canal, and wrongly claimed that effluent discharge into Kalingarayan Canal had stopped
Farmers associations in the district have expressed concern that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin provided wrong information to the public on the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) canal ayacut areas and also on the pollution levels in Kalingarayan Canal during his election campaign in Erode on March 31.
Mr. Stalin, while addressed a public meeting in Chinniyampalayam, said the LBP Canal helps in irrigating 3 lakh acres, while seepage from the canal benefits another 5 lakh acres. “As per a government order, the total ayacut area of LBP canal is 2.07 lakh acres while through the 34 water harnessing schemes, water benefits an additional 17,000 acres,” said S. Periyasamy, president of Keel Bhavani Murai Neer Pasana Vivasayigal Kootamaippu, a famers’ association. Apart from this, 25,000 acres in the Dharapuram area, the Dharapuram Cut, that are yet to be included in the ayacut area, also get water indirectly, he pointed out, adding: “The statistics given by Mr. Stalin at the meeting were wrong.”
Likewise, Mr. Stalin had also said the extension, renovation and modernisation of the canal project, brought about by the AIADMK government, was strongly objected to by farmers and hence, concretelining was dropped and the DMK government had modified the project to renovate only the old masonry and structures. The association’s secretary K.V. Ponnaiyan clarified that the original project had only aimed at renovating the old structures and not concretelining the entire canal.
Former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in 2009 constituted a sevenmember committee under the chairmanship of A. Mohanakrishnan, then advisor to the government (Water Resources) and chairman of the Cauvery Technical CellcumInter Waters Wing, that submitted a report in 2010 recommending lining the main canal to reduce seepage and to carry water to the tailend faster. “A government order to execute the work was issued in 2010 by the DMK government then,” he added.
Mr. Stalin also said the DMK government had prevented textile units from polluting the Kalingarayan Canal and claimed that polluting industries were moved to SIPCOT in Perundurai. He also said during the DMK rule in 1996, then Chief Minister Mr. Karunanidhi sanctioned ₹100 crore for concretelining the left bank of the canal. “Textile units continue to function near the canal and pollute it,” said V.M. Velayutham, president of Kalingarayan Pasana Sabai.
C. Nallasamy, president of Keel Bhavani Pasana Vivasayigal Sangam, also expressed concerns over the erroneous statements given by the CM.