Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami promised on Saturday that the Godavari and Cauvery rivers would be linked to solve the water crisis faced by the delta districts in the state.
He was visiting Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur districts, which are a part of the Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu, for election campaigning. Speaking to the voters in Thiruvarur district, the Chief Minister said that Tamil Nadu was tired of fighting battles for water legally and that the two rivers in South India would be linked at a cost of Rs 60,000 crore. Furthermore, he said that a team of retired engineers are studying ways to conserve water that flows into the sea, and that the government will ensure that all water bodies are desilted and maintained properly to prevent water from wastefully draining into the Bay of Bengal. He also said that the Rs 2,000 monetary assistance would be provided to the families belothe w poverty line would be continued even after the polls.
Slamming the DMK for its cadres resorting to violence in shops, Palaniswami also spoke about the Kodanad controversy. According to reports, he said that those involved in Kodanad deaths have murder cases against them and since DMK President MK Stalin tried to get them out on bail, it seems that he is their gang leader.
In January, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced that the detailed project report for the linking of four south Indian rivers -- Godavari, Krishna, Pennar and Cauvery -- was ready and that cabinet approval would be obtained. When he speaking at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh, he stated that the project would help save around 1,100 tmcft of Godavari water which is flowing into the sea, and use it to irrigate the fields of Tamil Nadu. He added that this project would be implemented using steel pipes to interlink the rivers, as canals lead to loss of water due to evaporation.