The Athikadavu-Avinashi project in Tamil Nadu, which was conceived 67 years ago, is finally taking shape with Chief Minister M.K. Stalin set to commission the scheme through video conferencing on Saturday (August 17, 2024).
The project proposes to divert 1.5 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of surplus water from the downstream of Kalingarayan anicut of the Bhavani river at Kalingarayanpalayam in Erode district, filling 1,045 water bodies and irrigating 24,468 acres of farm land in Erode, Tiruppur, and Coimbatore districts.
The Bhavani river originates from the Nilgiris in the Western Ghats, enters Kerala, and re-enters Athikadavu, a place near Pilloor dam in Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district. The river enters the Bhavanisagar dam in Erode district, from where it travels 75 km to join the Cauvery river at Bhavani.
The 217-km-long perennial river is fed by both southwest and northeast monsoons, and to utilise the surplus water that enters Cauvery, farmers made a representation to the then Chief Minister K. Kamaraj in 1957 to divert the water through open canals and fill the dry pockets in the erstwhile Coimbatore district.
The scheme was initially named the Upper Bhavani Project.
Over the last 50 years, steps were taken by various State governments to get the scheme up and running. In 2009, a technical expert committee was constituted under the chairmanship of A. Mohanakrishnan, Advisor to Government of Water Resources, that investigated the viability of the scheme. It submitted a report which stated that 2 tmc ft of water during flood flow could be diverted.
Political parties, farmers, traders, welfare organisations, and the public resorted to various protests over these years urging successive governments to implement the scheme.
In 1972, the project was re-christened the Athikadavu-Avinashi Ground Water Recharge and Drinking Water Supply Scheme, and the then Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced the implementation of the project in 2016-17.
The foundation stone for the ₹1,652-crore project was laid on February 28, 2019, by Mr. Palanisamy, and the project was proposed to be completed in 34 months. The project cost was revised to ₹1,758.88 crore to fill 32 Public Works Department tanks, 42 union tanks, and 971 ponds in three districts. After obtaining the environmental clearance, the work for the project commenced on December 25, 2019.
Delay in acquiring land, obtaining the right to use permission from farmers for laying pipelines, and the non-availability of surplus water delayed the project. The trial run was completed in January 2023 and damages to feeder lines were rectified.
The project was then ready for commissioning.
Proposed at ₹134 crore during the initial years, the scheme was finally completed at ₹1,916.41 crore. It is executed on a design, built, operate, and transfer (DBOT) basis, and the contractor, after commissioning, has to operate and maintain it for 60 months.
On Thursday (August 15, 2024), the Minister for Housing and Urban Development S. Muthusamy told mediapersons that adequate water is available for pumping, and that the CM would commission the project on Saturday.
Farmers, social welfare organisations, and the public, meanwhile, demanded that the government cover more water bodies under the second phase of the scheme.
D. Prabhu, convenor of Athikadavu-Avinashi Project Struggle Committee, wanted 1,200 leftover water bodies to be included in the second phase of the scheme so that it benefits the entire western region of the State. He urged the government to start work for the second phase at the earliest.
