Opposing the move to draw water for Oddenchattiram from the Parambikulam - Aliyar Project (PAP), thousands of farmers staged a protest on Pollachi - Palladam Road on Tuesday.
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Under the PAP, it was envisaged to realise 30.5 tmc of water for Tamil Nadu and 19.5 lakh tmc for Kerala. But, in reality, the envisaged quantity of water was seldom realised and Tamil Nadu used to get only 20 tmc. Under the PAP, 50,000 acres are irrigated with Aliyar as the source and 3.77 lakh acres with Thirumoorthy reservoir as the source. The water used to be released for these irrigation needs only once in two years.
Meanwhile, the government announced a project to draw water for Oddenchattiram from the PAP. This drew protest from the farming community. The farmers said the proposed move would severely hit the PAP irrigated areas spread over 10 Assembly Constituencies and urged the State government to drop the move.
The farmers also threatened to intensify their protest if the government failed to concede to their demands.