: With just two months left for the famous “Adi Padinettu” event (jatara) at the Kanakanasamma temple on the Kuppam-TN border which attracts lakhs of devotees, the objections raised by the Jayalalithaa government to the alleged increase in height of check dams on the Palar river have baffled irrigation officials and the general public in Chittoor district, particularly in the Kuppam area, through which the river traverses. The temple is on the banks of Palar river in A.P., but is under the control of the TN Endowments Department. The officials have linked up the row over check dams to the temple issue.
Superintending Engineer (Water Resources Department - Chittoor district), Sri Ramakrishna and Executive Engineer M. Neelakanta Reddy told The Hindu that the Palar river had not witnessed any inflows since 2004, barring small trickles during rains in Karnataka. “During the last 12 years, not a single drop has been utilised either for irrigation or drinking water purposes in our region for the reason that the river is just dry. So the question of increasing the height of check dams does not arise,” the officials maintained.
The officials observed that at present only repairs were undertaken on some of the 29 check dams on the river, during its course between V. Kota and Kuppam mandals in Chittoor district. “As they were built with stones at several places, they got damaged, and sand dunes formed in front of the check dam walls. In recent days, the sand was illegally taken away for construction works. In the absence of sand dunes, it appears as though the height of check dams had been raised by us,” they observed.
The irrigation authorities have even linked up the Palar check dams’ issue with revenue collections at the Kanakanasamma temple. “Though the temple is in Chittoor district, its revenue is being enjoyed by T.N. The temple nets an annual revenue of over Rs. 50 lakh through tenders by TN officials for setting up stalls and other paraphernalia during the annual jatara. This year, the tenders are being handled by Panchayat Raj officials in the temple zone. As it affects T.N.’s interests, the issue of check dams on the Palar river has been deliberately raised,” they observed.
Meanwhile, people of the Kuppam region alleged that the people on the TN side had even laid pipelines in the river to take water their fields.
Meanwhile, Chittoor Collector Siddarth Jain told The Hindu that the proposed “Palar reservoir” project was shelved long ago in line with a Supreme Court ruling. “No new construction has been taken up anywhere on the riverbed,” he said.
