CM to lay foundation for Rs 700 cr projects

Karur, Tamil Nadu, Jun 20 (UNI) Chief Minister M Karunanidhi would lay foundation stone for projects worth Rs 700 crore at a function to be held at Tiruchirapalli on June 24, state PWD Minister Duraimurugan said.

Speaking to mediapersons at Mayanur near here yesterday, he said the projects include construction of a barrage across River Cauvery at Kattalai and permanent flood protection works for the benefit of Karur, Tiruchirapalli, Ariyalur and Perambalur districts.

In what is billed as the first phase of interlinking intra-state rivers, a new road-cum-barrage would built up at a cost of Rs 165 crore just 250 metre downstream of the existing Kattalai Bed Regulator at Mayanur near here.

For the current year, he said a sum of Rs 50 crore was sanctioned for it. The barrage would also help in irrigation of more than 90,000 acres of land.

The road over the barrage would facilitate two-lane traffic between Mayanur in Karur district with Seerpillaiyarpudur in Tiruchi district, he said.

Later talking to newspersons at Tiruchirapalli, the Minister said the Rs 253 crore flood prevention project to strengthen the bunds of the Cauvery, Coleroon and other rivers in Tiruchirapalli, Karur and combined Perambalur districts would be completed in two years.

He said the bunds of the Cauvery and Coleroon rivers would be strengthened between Mayanur and Grand Anaicut under the flood prevention scheme.

He said the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned Rs 197.17 crore under its Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for the project.

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