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The Water Resources Department (WRD) plans to expedite the rehabilitation component of the Kattalai Barrage near Mayanur Village of Krishnarayapuram taluk in Karur District.
The barrage-cum-road across the Cauvery river was commissioned about seven years. Heeding the long-pending demand of the farmers served by Kattalai High-Level Canal, New Kattalai High-Level Canal, South Bank Canal, and North Bank Canal branching off on either side of the Cauvery, the State government constructed the barrage across the Cauvery. It could store flood water to feed the irrigation channels and improve the water table in the adjoining areas for a long time. The four channels irrigate over 1.12 lakh acres in Karur, Tiruchi, Thanjavur, and Pudukkottai districts. It could storage 1.04 tmcft.
More importantly, the barrage constructed at an estimate of ₹234-crore is being projected as the fountainhead of the ambitious Cauvery-Gundar river-linking project in the State.
The bund on the northern bank of the Cauvery river at the barrage suffered a breach in August 2018. The strong erosion, caused by the strong water current and abnormal rise in the water level, kept the WRD, then PWD officials on tenterhook for a few days. Within an hour, the erosion had widened by over 100 metre, uprooting about 60 coconut trees on the embankment. Round-the-clock work by the officials, who sourced tonnes of boulders from Karur, Thottiam, Namakkal and other areas, checked the erosion and prevented a major breach.
As a follow-up measure, the WRD began a rehabilitation project at an estimate of ₹1.85 crore a few months ago. Overhauling the system, and checking and strengthening the apron by placing of boulders downstream and upstream of the barrage were among the components of the project.
Though the work began in May 2022, the project was perceived to have progressed at a snail’s pace due to the early opening of the Mettur dam for irrigation. The continuous flow of water in the Cauvery river for more than eight months checked the progress of the work. With the closure of the Mettur dam, the officials have resumed the rehabilitation work.
A senior official of the WRD told The Hindu that more men and machinery would be mobilised to expedite the work and complete it within April. .
