A view of the pipeline erected to draw water under the Athikadavu-Avinashi project, at Kalingarayanpalayam, in Erode, in Tamil Nadu. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Protesting the delay in completion of the Athikadavu-Avinashi Groundwater Recharge project, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has threatened to resort to series of protests.
President of Agriculture Wing of the BJP G.K. Nagaraj said former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami laid the foundation stone for the project.
The project plans to pump the water from the Lower Bhavani river and fill the ponds, lakes and waterbodies in Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Erode districts. When the project neared 96% completion, the DMK came to power and of the remaining 4% works, 3% works were completed.
“It was in August 25, 2022, the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin at Gobichettipalayam announced that the project would be completed in a month. Even after two-years, the DMK Government was delaying the commissioning of the project and it continues to be on a trial run basis. With the surplus water sufficient in Bhavani, the project needs to be commissioned,” he said.
Mr. Nagaraj added that the BJP State President K. Annamalai on August 3 will inspect the Thiruvachi third pumping station and will meet the farmers who lost their lands for laying pipelines and are still waiting for compensation.
The BJP has decided to resort to a series of protests, if the DMK Government continued to delay the commissioning of the project.
