The Hindu : Front Page : Facelift for South Vellar sub-basin

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Friday, Jan 25, 2008
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Facelift for South Vellar sub-basin

M. Balaganessin

PUDUKOTTAI: Anticipating green signal from the World Bank, the Public Works Department is gearing up for implementation of the Tamil Nadu Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation and Water Resources Management Project (TN IAM WARM) in the South Vellar sub-basin in the district. The World Bank-funded project, involving a total outlay of Rs.76.94 crore, will be implemented in coordination with various departments, including Agricultural Engineering, Horticulture, Fisheries, Forest, Agriculture and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.

A lion’s share of Rs. 63.1 crore will go to the PWD, which will modernise 77 tanks in the sub-basin , ensuring an assured irrigational facility for about 21,023 hectare, official sources told The Hindu here .

The PWD authorities have planned to implement the project from the middle of February or early March. The project will help improve irrigational facilities. For instance, the Holdsworth Anicut in Kadayakudi village, about seven km from here, will get a facelift. Sources said that the anicut, the biggest in the district, was last renovated in 1978. “The weakened shutters will be replaced. The sluices and weirs will be renovated and the supply channels desilted to provide an assured irrigational facility for about 5,395 acres,” sources said. It has a total of 33 feeding tanks – 13 on the left and 20 on the right. It was designed during British rule with a catchment area of 828 square km and a maximum per second flood discharge capacity of 655 cubic centimetre.

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