10k Acres of Farmland Hit as Fund Crunch Halts Kattalai Canal Redevelopment Plan

The abrupt halt of the ₹335-crore project for redevelopment of the old Kattalai High-Level Canal, which the water resources department (WRD) commenced in 2020, due to fund crunch has prolonged farmers' years-long struggle to irrigate about 10,000 acres of farmlands in Tiruchy and Karur districts.

- D VINCENT AROCKIARAJ @ Tiruchy

Mentioning inability to even take up sowing works due to the blockages in the irrigation canal's course, farmers, particularly in the tail-end region, urge the authorities concerned to resume the redevelopment project at the earliest by allocating the required funds.

The canal, also known as the old Kattalai Mettu Vaickal, branches off from the southern banks of River Cauvery at the Mayanur barrage in Karur district and flows up to Thayanur in Tiruchy district, covering a distance of 63 kilometers. Around 23,000 acres spread across both districts are dependent on the canal for irrigation.