Implement AIADMK's Cauvery River, tributaries rejuvenation project, Palaniswami tells TN govt

Chennai, Jul 17 (PTI) AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami has urged the Tamil Nadu government to take steps to implement the Nadanthaai Vaazhi Cauvery project initiated by the previous AIADMK regime to rejuvenate the Cauvery River and its tributaries. Accusing the previous DMK administration of "deliberately stalling and shelving the Rs 11,250 crore project due to political animosity," Palaniswami said the Centre had cleared the project and approved Rs 935 crore towards the first instalment under Centre-State share of 60:40 ratio. However, the then DMK government failed to allot the state share thus causing a lapse in the execution, he claimed. Had the project commenced immediately following the central approval, atleast 30 per cent of the Phase I work would have been completed by now, the AIADMK general secretary said in a statement here on Thursday. Modelled closely on the Centre's Namami Gange (Clean Ganga) initiative, the Nadanthaai Vaazhi Cauvery was initially conceptualised and proposed by the Palaniswami-led AIADMK government in 2019, to rejuvenate the Cauvery River and its tributaries by preventing the mixing of urban sewage and also envisaged the setting up common effluent treatment plants for industries, aiming to benefit 12 districts in the western and Cauvery delta districts in the state. The National River Conservation Directorate initially cleared an immediate sub-allotment of Rs 934.3 crore from out of Rs 1,958 crore in Phase I, targeting the sewage diversion and riverfront infrastructure from Mettur to Tiruchi. The Phase II costing Rs 8,753 crore was meant for heavy ecological restoration, pollution control, and tributary rejuvenation across the downstream delta stretch extending to Poompuhar, a source said. Palaniswami urged Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay to implement the project that would meet the drinking water and irrigation needs of the people in the region. Also, the former CM flayed the current TVK regime, accusing Vijay of focussing on "reels" and "horse-trading" of MLAs rather than involve in crucial state development. He argued that the state government need not come up with new schemes but could merely execute the existing project to protect Tamil Nadu's agricultural interests. PTI JSP JSP KH