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Monday, Jan 07, 2008
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Monday, Jan 07, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Tamil Nadu
“Mettur dam overflowed seven times in 2007 alone” TIRUNELVELI: The State Government should prepare a ‘master plan’ for the construction of innumerable check-dams across major rivers and irrigation channels to save every drop of floodwater, now being wasted, the Pattali Makkal Katchi founder, S. Ramadoss, has urged. In a statement released here on Sunday, Dr. Ramadoss said the State, which was waging a legal battle against neighbouring Karnataka for release of water in Cauvery to save the standing crop in the delta region, had wasted more than 75 tmc floodwater after the Mettur dam overflowed for as many as seven times in 2007 alone, since successive governments had failed to construct a good number of check dams across Cauvery. Similarly, no facility was in place to store the surplus water of Vaigai and perennial Tamirabarani, even as thousands of acres in the districts where these rivers were flowing were craving for water for irrigation for several centuries. Kamaraj’s suggestion“When the late Chief Minister K. Kamaraj inaugurated the Manimuthar dam 50 years ago, he underlined the need for constructing as many check dams across the rivers of Tamil Nadu since the State has not been blessed with long rivers and hence there is no scope for the construction of mega reservoirs. However, successive governments miserably failed in their duty of preserving the floodwater by constructing check dams to store the surplus water. Hence, the State Government, at least now, should prepare a ‘master plan’ for the construction of check dams and irrigation channels from these dams,” Dr. Ramadoss suggested. On the sale of liquor in Tamil Nadu, he said the people in the State, according to the statistics available with the officials concerned, had consumed 110.60 crore litres of alcohol during the period between November 1, 2004 and August 31, 2008. “Nearly 2 tmc of liquor has been sold in Tamil Nadu. An equivalent quantity of water is enough for ensuring unhindered farming operations in Tirnelveli and Tuticorin district for 365 days. The sale of liquor has ruined several lakhs of families and the destruction still continues.” Dismissing the argument that the Government could not give freebies to the poor if total prohibition was enforced, the PMK founder suggested that the sale of liquor could be cut in a phased manner so that absolute prohibition could be enforced within the next five years. He also came down on the official machinery for failing to ensure the quality of State Highways being laid by private contractors, “which cannot even withstand a drizzle.”
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