Athikadavu – Tamil Nadu BJP president Annamalai had recently announced that he would go on a hunger strike on behalf of the Tamil Nadu BJP from August 17 to condemn the Tamil Nadu government for putting the Avinasi project on hold. Subsequently, even on Sunday, Minister Muthuswamy held a consultation with officials at the Erode District Collector’s Office regarding the Athikadavu-Avinasi project.
In this case, Chief Minister Stalin will launch the Athikadavu-Avinasi project tomorrow through a video presentation. Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai welcomed this. In this regard, he has said in a statement that, in a way, the Athikadavu-Avinasi project was launched on August 17 by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Mr. It has been announced that Stalin will start it.
The DMK government, which had been delaying the implementation of this plan for the last 39 months after coming to power, ignoring the demands of the public and farmers, bowed after announcing that a continuous hunger strike would be held on behalf of the Tamil Nadu BJP from August 20. It is heartening that the 70-year-old dream of the public is about to be fulfilled at the insistence of the Tamil Nadu BJP. We welcome this announcement from DMK Govt.
Through the Athikadavu-Avinasi project, more than a thousand water bodies and thousands of acres of agricultural land in the districts of Coimbatore, Erode and Tirupur will benefit and the drinking water needs of lakhs of people will be met. We would like to point out at this juncture that the DMK government is obliged to apologize to the public for the delay for the past 39 months.
Also, the compensation fund for the farmers who gave land for pipeline laying for Athikadavu – Avinasi project has not been disbursed till now. Their compensation should be announced on the day of the launch of the scheme. Already compensation has been delayed for years. The completion of the project, while on the one hand gratifying them, their compensation will make that happiness complete. Therefore, we insist that the compensation to the farmers who have given land for the pipeline should also be announced immediately.
Apart from that, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Mr. The Narendra Modi-led central government, which brought the National Dams Protection Act in 2021, requires each state to form a dam protection committee. In Tamil Nadu, various dams including Bhavanisagar, Azhiyar, Tirumurthy Dam, Amaravati Dam are lacking adequate maintenance. The main task of this group is to maintain and monitor the dams.
However, three years after passing the National Dams Protection Act, the DMK government has not constituted the Tamil Nadu Dams Protection Committee. Without further delay, Chief Minister Mr. Stalin must come forward. Through this, we are committed to ensure that the dams of Tamil Nadu are strong and safe.
We had announced that if the Athikadavu-Avinasi project fails to be implemented, from August 20, Tamil Nadu BJP will continue the protest. Now, on August 17, the Tamil Nadu government has announced the launch of the scheme. As our main demand has been fulfilled, the protest announced on behalf of Tamil Nadu BJP is abandoned. However, he also warned that the Tamil Nadu BJP will continue to raise its voice until the two demands of compensation for farmers and formation of the Tamil Nadu Dam Protection Committee are met.
