CHENNAI – Tamil Nadu’s ambitious Rs 14,000 crore Nandanathai Vazhi Kaveri River Restoration Project, a lifeline for ecology and irrigation, faces significant delays due to administrative and financial hurdles. With state assembly elections looming, prospects of groundbreaking before polls appear slim.
The delay has sparked political controversy after AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami accused the ruling DMK government of deliberately stalling the initiative. Palaniswami asserted that the central government had already approved the plan, placing the onus on the state administration for inaction.
Senior officials from the Water Resources Department (WRD) countered that procedural bottlenecks, not politics, are the culprits. ‘The finance department is yet to grant necessary approvals,’ a top official explained. ‘Coordination among nearly 12 departments—including WRD, Water Supply and Sewerage Board, TNEPDCL, and revenue—is essential. Given the project’s scale, starting work before elections is unrealistic.’
The National River Conservation Directorate has cleared Rs 934 crore for the first phase, split 60:40 between center and state. New Delhi will contribute Rs 560 crore, while Tamil Nadu covers Rs 374 crore. Phase one targets rejuvenation of the Kaveri from Mettur to Trichy—spanning 1,092 km—along with tributaries like Thirumanimuthar, Sarbanga, Bhavani, Amaravati, and Noyyal. The remaining 214 km to the sea falls under phase two.
Delta farmers, long awaiting the project, express frustration over polluted waters crippling agriculture. M. Ramasamy, a 52-year-old farmer from Thiruvarur, lamented, ‘Industrialization and urbanization have ruined water quality. Fish stocks have plummeted, crops fail, and even drinking water is tainted. The river isn’t what it used to be.’ He cited past pollution reports highlighting severe contamination across the Kaveri basin.
The plan includes sewage treatment plants, common effluent treatment for textile units, and riverbank enhancements. Kaveri Delta Farmers’ Federation president K.V. Elankiran stressed the dire need in tail-end districts like Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, and Mayiladuthurai, where water scarcity limits farmers to a single crop season annually. ‘Implementation could revive farming, enabling multiple harvests,’ he said.
As political rhetoric intensifies, the project’s fate hangs in balance, underscoring tensions between development priorities and electoral timelines in Tamil Nadu.