The over 50 year dream of people to see the Athikadavu-Avinashi water scheme fructify would soon become a reality as the foundation stone for the project would be laid by this month end, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami said here Wednesday.
The tender process for the Rs 1,652 crore project had already been issued, he said.
"The foundation stone for the project, the over 50 year dream of the people and farmers, will be laid by end of February," he said.
The chief Minister said some more areas like S S Kulam, Periyanaickenplayam and Annur West have been added under phase II of the project, following requests from local MLAs, MPs and also farmers.
The Chief Minister was speaking after inaugurating a Rs 1.5 crore memorial to farmers icon, Narayanasamy Naidu at Vaiyampalayam about 40 Kms from here,
The project is aimed at providing water for irrigation to drought prone areas in Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode districts.
Nearly 25,000 acres of agriculture stand to benefit from the scheme, which will also be a
Palaniswamy said the government proposed to open a Rs 2,000 crore food park near Chennai, where cold storage facilities would be available for farmers' produce like vegetables and fruits for export, he said.
Similarly, steps would be taken to prevent rain water going waste to the sea through the Godavari-Cauvery Linking project initiated by the Centre, by which the state would get 200 TMC of water, he said.
Tamil Nadu is the major beneficiary under the Prime Minister's Crop Insurance scheme, Palanisamy said.
A veterinary research centre, the largest in Asia, would be set up in Tamil Nadu, he said.
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