In what could be a major boost to water storage and distribution, the state government on Monday came out with the highest ever fund allocation of Rs 3,624.73 crore for water resource management to implement a slew of schemes, including restoration of 7,623 tanks controlled by the public works department.
State finance minister O. Panneerselvam said that 6,436 PWD controlled tanks have already been taken up for various programmes and the remaining 7,263 tanks would get a facelift.
Similarly, 21,609 minor irrigation tanks under panchayat unions and 3,884 other important water bodies would be restored and improved by mobilising funds from MNREGS and Nabard loans in the next three years.
Likewise, the state government assured to take up 45 more rehabilitation and modernisation works under Nabard-NIDF during this fiscal.
The government also assured to take up the Rs 745.49 crore World Bank funded Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project covering 66dams under water resource department control and another 38 controlled by TN Generation and Distribution Company over a period of six years in four phases from the current fiscal.
The government also assured to take up Amaravathy sub-basin work at a cost of Rs 128.31 crore benefiting 1.32 lakh acres.
The state government has also provided Rs 50 crore for constructing Kattalai Barrage across the Cauvery an ongoing project implemented under the intra-state river interlinking project.
A sum of Rs 100 crore has been provided in 2012-13 for the ongoing Thamiraparani-Karumeniar-Nabiar link project.