Madras HC orders notice to Centre on plea for inter-linking of rivers

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday ordered a notice to the Union Water Resources and Finance Secretaries on a PIL seeking to accord sanction for Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar river inter-linking scheme to benefit people in southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

Justice M.Jaichandran and Justice R Mahadevan ordered the notice to the officials on the PIL filed by one M.Sundararaj who submitted that the cost of the project, first concieved in 2003-04, had doubled and touched Rs.5,166 crore now. The scheme would be a boon for the general public and farmers for drinking and irrigation purposes.

In 2013, about 20 TMC of water had gone waste. If the surplus water had been diverted to southern districts, they would have benefitted, it argued. In some districts such as Dindigul, Sivagaganga, Madurai and Virudhunagar, the water table had gone to the depth of 1000 feet, he submitted.

The National Water Development Authority did not take any step to sanction the project in 2003-04 itself, he said adding depite several representations no step had been initiated.