He says this will be the only solution to the problems of Dharmapuri district.
He says this will be the only solution to the problems of Dharmapuri district.
PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Friday launched a three-day walkathon to “create awareness” about a plan of the party at Hogenakkal to harvest Cauvery surplus water to fill reservoirs in Dharmapuri district.
Speaking to the media on the occasion, he said that this scheme would be the only solution to the problems of the district like unemployment, unprofitable farming, absence of industries and livelihood, distress migration, fluoride contamination of ground water and scarcity of drinking water.
He said that the additional volume flowing into the sea annually would be close to 200 tmc. This scheme will draw only 3 TMC of it. “In the last two weeks, over 2 lakh cusecs were washed away in Hogenakkal in Cauvery. This quantity flowing into the sea could have been used to fill the lakes and ponds at Dharmapuri. It will also help recharge groundwater aquifers, which have submerged 700 feet-1,000 feet,” he said.
The scheme would not be detrimental to the farmers of the tail-end of the Cauvery delta, as it would only use the surplus water flowing into the sea, he said.
The PMK president said the party has been continuously demanding the implementation of the scheme and has collected 10.30 lakh signatures from the residents of Dharmapuri and handed them over to the previous AIADMK government led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. He also made an election announcement. “But later he secretly said there was no money and ended it there.”
He gave the government an ultimatum to implement the plan or his party would launch a protest.