The dam rehabilitation and improvement project and flood management scheme of Water Resources Department are expected to be approved shortly, according to S.Jayaraman, Chief Engineer (General) of Public Works Department.
He was addressing the inaugural session of a training programme for engineers of the Water Resources Department, which was organised here on Monday in association with the Centre for Water Resources, Anna University.
Mr.Jayaraman, who is also Engineer in Chief, Water Resources Organisation, said nearly 104 dams under the control of the PWD and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board across the State would be rehabilitated under the Rs.815 crore project. While 80 per cent of the project cost would be loan from the World Bank, the remaining would be funded by the State government.
Improvement work in waterbodies and supply channels would be carried out to prevent inundation during monsoon under the Rs.600 crore flood management project, he said.
Detailing the Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation and Water Bodies Restoration and Management (IAMWARM) project, he said WRD engineers would undergo capacity building training as part of the project. The series of 11 such programmes would help in exchange of ideas between academic researchers and professionals for effective utilisation of water resources.
Anna University’s Vice-Chancellor P. Mannar Jawahar said nearly 440 engineers are expected to participate in the programmes to be held in the next few months. This would also be beneficial to the students.
The Centre for Water Resources is carrying out research in subjects such as water resources management, remote sensing and hydraulic engineering.
The Centre’s director K. Karunakaran said the programmes would facilitate deliberation of solutions and suggestions for water management. The theme of the first training programme was localisation of ayacut wherein land area covered by irrigation system and crops to be raised are determined by the State government.
The Centre’s professor emeritus R. Sakthivadivel also spoke. The five-day programme would focus on providing an in-depth knowledge about localisation practices prevalent in an irrigation system and the need to chalk out better plan for water management, taking into account the changes undergone by irrigation lands.
The topics of discussion at the programme on Monday, included selection of crops based on the water resources availability, modernising ayacut for saving water and significance of interaction with farmers.
