Work on the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) main canal resumed after the Madras High Court lifted the interim stay order on the works on Thursday. Officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD) have assured that work will be completed by August 10 and water will be released for irrigation on August 15.
Work on the canal, which began after a Government Order was issued on May 13, 2024 replacing the previous government order of 9 November 2020, was halted after a section of farmers obtained an interim stay on the project. Meanwhile, another group of farmers have been urging the WRD to take effective steps to get the stay order lifted so that the works could be completed on time.
On 18 July, the court allowed the WRD to execute works in the main canal, while a decision on allowing works in the distributary canal would be taken during the next hearing on 24 July. A WRD engineer said that works to construct drainage culverts, protection walls, and bridges at 16 locations in the main canal commenced on Friday and would be completed before 10 August. “We are working round-the-clock to complete all the works,” said the engineer.
The modified components in the main canal include the reconstruction of head and direct sluices, reconstruction of bridges, drainage culverts and under tunnels, rehabilitation of aqueducts, canal siphons and regulators, and protection walls. The concrete lining for the main canal was dropped in the modified project. The project is being executed in four packages at a total cost of ₹706.15 crore.
