Priority being given to ryots' welfare: CM

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUNELVELI, OCT. 2. The State Government has taken steps for the implementation of various irrigation schemes including the minor ones, unmindful of the financial implications, for the welfare of the farming community, said the Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi.

At a function to inaugurate the Nambiyar reservoir constructed by the Water Resources Organisation (WRO) of the PWD, at an outlay of Rs. 29 crores across river Nambiyar at Kottaikarungulam village in Radhapuram taluk on Monday,

Mr. Karunanidhi said during the earlier Congress regimes, sanction was accorded only for major reservoir projects. But the successive Governments under his stewardship gave priority even to the minor reservoir projects.

In the last four and a half years of the present regime, implementation of various irrigation projects helped in bringing more than 40,000 hectares under cultivation in different parts of the State. The schemes executed during the previous AIADMK regime benefited only 11,809 hectares, he added.

Mr. Duraimurugan, PWD Minister, in his presidential address, said there were now 63 reservoirs in the State, of which 58 were sanctioned during the past and present DMK tenures.

He said the Nambiyar reservoir was sanctioned by the DMK Government in 1989 and the project ran into rough weather during the AIADMK rule. The works resumed only after the present Government assumed charge.

The Minister said the works on the Adavinainarkoil reservoir project, Kodumudiyar project, Vadakku Pachayar reservoir and Gadana extension scheme were progressing in Tirunelveli district at a fast pace.

The District Collector Mr. K. Dhanavel, in his welcome address, said the Nambiyar reservoir would feed 13 system tanks under Nambiyar river and 27 rainfed tanks in the drought prone Radhapuram taluk.

`A saga of neglect'

Our Nagercoil Staff Reporter writes:

Dedicating the Poigai reservoir at a function organised by the PWD at Aralvaimozhy near Nagercoil today, the Chief Minister said the dam had been a `saga of neglect' thanks to the indifference of the previous regime.

Claiming that many dams at various places in the State suffered similar fate as the Poigai reservoir till 1996 when he again came to power, Mr. Karunanidhi said he initiated measures for constructing the dams by making substantial allocation since 1996.

The DMK Government had set the welfare of the ryots above the fiscal expenditure, he observed.

Responding to a plea made by Mr. C. Velayuthan, the BJP MLA, Mr. Karunanidhi promised measures to construct the Mambazhathar dam in Kanyakumari district.

The Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, Mr. Pon. Radhakrishnan, urged the Chief Minister to evict encroachments in the irrigation tanks and ponds of Kanyakumari district.

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Section  : Southern States
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