The proposed construction of a dam across Siruvani River in Attapady Valley in Kerala will have an impact on Tamil Nadu with regard to irrigation, drinking water supply and hydropower generation, i

‘The concept of alternative energy is just catching on’

It is not just industries here that are going in for renewable sources, such as wind power, to meet their energy needs. Some of the retail outlets have also started exploring the green energy options. Recently, Chennai Silks installed a stand-alone, rooftop wind and solar power plant to generate electricity to operate one division of a showroom here.

More parties and organisations extend support

With more than 31 organisations coming together, the stage seems to be set for a human chain agitation at Gandhipuram in Coimbatore on Monday to protest Kerala’s decision to construct a dam of 450m length at Chittur – Venkadal in Attappady across River Siruvani, a source of water for the Bhavani. Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko, on Sunday, had already launched a campaign sensitising the people on the effects that Kerala’s proposed dam and power house project at Pambaru would cause to the Amaravathy basin.

Work on dam across Siruvani river was stopped in 1989

Kerala proposed to revive work on a dam across the Siruvani river in Palakkad district to draw the water the State was eligible to take from the Bhavani basin under the Kaveri Tribunal award, Minister for Water Resources P.J. Joseph told the Assembly on Thursday. He stated this in reply to a submission from Congress MLA Ramesh Chennithala. He said a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister recently took the decision to build the dam across the Siruvani river for the Attappady Irrigation Scheme, which was conceived way back in the 1970s.

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday flagged off 826 buses on 304 routes across the State, through videoconferencing from the Secretariat, and handed over the keys for seven buses to the drivers.

While the first bus was operated from the CM’s constituency Srirangam to Trivandrum, buses on seven routes, including T Nagar-Koyambedu Bus Terminus (J27), Udumalai-Coimbatore, Namakkal-Coimbatore, Srivilliputhur- Thiruthangal, were operated in her presence.

Tamilaga Vivasayigal Livelihood Protection Committee has urged the Chief Minister to save farmers in Western Tamil Nadu from an “impending danger” to their livelihood that has come in the form of pipeline project by Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) from Kochi to Bangalore.

The pipeline on entering Tamil Nadu at Walayar would pass through agricultural lands in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Namakkal, Salem, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts.

Climate change, pollution of air, land and water, and change in globalisation policies are threatening the agricultural economy of the country. In such circumstances, focus should be on alleviating these problems, S. Damodaran, Minister for Agriculture, said here on Friday.

Inaugurating the 23rd meeting of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Regional Committee No. VIII at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, he said that conversion of agricultural land for commercial or residential use has also aggravated the farmers' problems.

Groundwater table, agriculture hit

The menace of illegal sand mining continues to ravage River Bhavani in Erode district and remains a cause of serious concern to the farming community. Every night, tractors, trucks and bullock carts continue to transport loads of sand illegally mined from the river to construction sites in the nearby commercial hubs including Coimbatore, Salem and Tirupur. The authorities concerned including the officials of Department of Geology and Mining and the police personnel here remain silent on this issue.

Under the Tamil Nadu Bio-Diversity Conservation and Greening Project, 10 crore saplings woill be planted across the State, said forest officials at the bi-annual consultative meeting of Forest Genetics, Tamil Nadu Forest Department, held at the office of Forest Genetics here recently.

This scheme of tree cultivation in private lands would be implemented in fallow lands of around 4,000-5,000 villages in 32 districts, they said. H. Basavaraju, chief conservator of forests (research),

Groundwater table, agriculture hit

The menace of illegal sand mining continues to ravage River Bhavani in Erode district and remains a cause of serious concern to the farming community. Every night, tractors, trucks and bullock carts continue to transport loads of sand illegally mined from the river to construction sites in the nearby commercial hubs including Coimbatore, Salem and Tirupur. The authorities concerned including the officials of Department of Geology and Mining and the police personnel here remain silent on this issue.