The Hindu 18.05.2010
PMK keeps changing its stand on Hogenakkal water project: Stalin
Staff Reporter
| Says government implementing the project as promised |
— Photo: N. Bashkaran 
PROJECT STATUS:Dharmapuri Collector P. Amutha explaining the progress of the Hogenakkal Drinking Water and Fluorosis Mitigation Project to Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin at Hogenakkal on Monday.
HOGENAKKAL: The Pattali Makkal Katchi's flip-flop on the Hogenakkal Drinking Water and Fluorosis Mitigation Project is quite typical of its politics, said Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin here on Monday.
After inspecting the project works here, Mr. Stalin asked reporters not to draw any inference to changing statements of the PMK. He was responding to a query on the PMK's stand on the issue before and after the Pennagaram by-election.
Mr. Stalin asked the reporters to pose these queries to PMK leaders, who kept changing their statements on the project. “But, we (the DMK government) stick to our words and are implementing the project as promised to quench the thirst of 30 lakh people in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts.”
The project is being implemented in five phases. As part of phase-I, main head work on the Cauvery river bed, water treatment plant with a capacity to treat 1600 lakh litres per day in Kullathirampatti village and 2.40 lakh (2 X 1.20 lakh litres) underground storage sump in Madam village near Pennagaram at a cost of Rs. 63.67 crores are being taken up.
A 1000-metre trench is being dug around the water treatment plant to protect it from wild elephants. Construction of the treatment plant began on February 14 and underground storage sump, February 20.
Tenders will be finalised before June-end for the other four phases. Under these four phases, work on laying of pipelines, construction of overhead tanks and underground storage sumps will be taken up.
As per schedule, the entire project should be completed 30 months from the date of beginning of construction. The government is committed to completing it six months ahead of schedule. The project would be completed well before December 2012 as was done in the case of the Ramanathapuram Integrated Drinking Water Project. Mr. Stalin denied Karnataka's allegations that the Tamil Nadu government was planning to draw 2.5 tmcft of water from the Cauvery. Only 1.4 tmcft would be drawn for the project as permitted by the Centre.
Tenders had been floated for the underground drainage scheme for the Krishnagiri municipality.
E.V. Velu, Food Minister, and Gandhiselvan, Union Minister of State for Health, were among those who accompanied Mr. Stalin.
