the Tamil Nadu government announced on April 18, 2005 that it has shelved the Rs 300 crore New Veeranam Extension Project because farmers were afraid it would harm agriculture in the Coleroon river basin. Chief minister J Jayalalithaa said in a statement that her government didn't want to scare the farmers despite the Madras High Court's (hc's ) nod to the project.

The project aimed to supply drinking water to the Chennai metropolitan area with the help of six collector wells in the Coleroon riverbed and pipelines that had already been laid. It evoked strong protests from farmers who said it would deplete groundwater levels. The government argued it was tapping the shallow aquifer while farmers were tapping the deeper aquifer through borewells (see Down To Earth, [2]