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PIL against Kerala move to build checkdam across Bhavani

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI DEC. 16. A public interest litigation petition challenging the Kerala Government proposal to construct a checkdam across the Bhavani at Mukali, near Attapadi, in Palakkad district, has been filed in the Madras High Court.

(Though an order for the construction was issued in 1997 itself, the Kerala Government could not go ahead with the project in view of protests from various quarters, particularly residents of Attapadi which faced inundation).

According to the petitioner, R.R. Gopalijee of the Tamil daily Dinamalar, if the dam was constructed, five lakh acres of agricultural land would go dry, affecting more than one crore people in Coimbatore and Erode districts. The Bhavanisagar dam, irrigating more than 2 lakh acres under the Lower Bhavani project, the Thadapalli project, the Arakkankottai scheme and the Kalingarayan channel scheme, would be in jeopardy.

The river irrigated over 3 lakh acres in Erode district and about 60 lakh people depended on it through various hydel power projects, fisheries and research activities. If Bhavani water was stopped, the Cauvery would also go dry in the lower reaches.

Despite representations from the Tamil Nadu Green Movement and the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, the State Government remained indifferent to the developments, having far-reaching consequences for the State's agricultural economy. The petitioner also cited civic unrest and collapse of rural economy in the Cauvery delta region when the Karnataka Government built dams across the Cauvery.

The proposed construction would take away the riparian rights of millions of farmers, Mr. Gopalijee contended, and prayed for an interim injunction restraining Kerala and its officials from proceeding further with the Mukali checkdam project, pending disposal of the petition.

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