Chennai, August 27 (BPNS)
The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) meeting scheduled to be held in New Delhi on August 31 is to take up the Cauvery- Vaigai- Gundar link canal scheme. The scheme executed by the Tamil Nadu government is to get approval from the CWMA to procure financial support.
The Mekedatu dam project of Karnataka is also likely to figure in the CWMA meeting which is to be held physically in New Delhi on August 31 after a gap of 18 months due to pandemic. Around 7 meetings of the CWMA were held virtually during this period.
The meeting is the 13th since the CWMA was constituted in June 2018 and the Tamil Nadu government is to be represented by Additional Chief Secretary (Water Resources and Public Works ), Sandeep Saxena.
At present the idea of the Tamil Nadu government is to implement the scheme through the NABARD infrastructure Development assistance and presently the first phase of the work is being conducted by the fund sanctioned by the previous AIADMK government that had sanctioned an amount of Rs 330 crore. The then Chief Minister , Edappadi K Palaniswami had then laid the foundation stone for the first phase of the Cauvery- Vaigai- Gundar link canal scheme.
The project which is to connect rivers from the Cauvery to Gundar over a length of 262 km is to begin from Kattalai barrage and the estimated cost of the project is Rs 6941 crore.
State Water Resources minister and senior leader of the DMK, S. Duraimurugan while speaking to BPNS said, “The CWMA meeting is important and the government will take up the Cauvery- Vaigai- Gundar project in the meeting. We will also oppose the Mekedatu dam project of Karnataka.”
