Land acquisition delays new reservoir

The ambitious project to create a new reservoir at Thervoy Kandigai-Kannankottai in Tiruvallur district is facing further delay owing to issues in land acquisition.

The upcoming reservoir, which is being created by linking two water bodies in the two villages of Tiruvallur district, will be the fifth reservoir to store and supply drinking water to Chennai’s growing needs. However, the nearly Rs. 330-crore project is being delayed for over a year now due to problems in acquiring nearly 600 acres in Kannankottai village.

The reservoirs in Cholavaram, Red Hills, Chembarambakkam and Red Hills are used to provide drinking water to the city. Nearly 66 million litres of water a day will be drawn from the new reservoir for city supply.

While the work is on to create bund in other parts, the project will be complete only if the bund is created for the distance of nearly two km in Kannankottai, officials say.

The project has missed the deadline for completion due to stiff opposition from farmers.

The delay in framing guidelines for the new Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act is also proving an obstacle to the project completion, officials note.

K. Rangan of Kannankottai said that residents have sought an increase in the compensation for the lands to be acquired. They also wanted to know about the rehabilitation initiatives as the entire village depended on agriculture and several farmers have cultivated paddy this year too.

Sources in the Water Resources Department, which is implementing the project, said nearly 95 per cent of the project has been completed. Work has been completed to create nearly 8.2-km-long canal to divert Krishna water from Kandaleru Poondi canal to the new reservoir. The water body will also get inflow from neighbouring lakes such as Rajan Eri and Karadiputhur eri.

A total of 18 cross masonry works, including causeways and bridges, are being built over waterways. If the land acquisition process is completed, the entire project will be over in two or three months, sources said.

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