Lower Bhavani Project Canal is a long

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

which runs in

Erode district Erode District is one of the 38 Districts of Tamil Nadu, districts in the south Indian States and union territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. It was the largest district by area in the state before the formation of Tirupur district in 2009 ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The canal is a valley-side contour canal, fed by Bhavanisagar Dam and irrigates 2.07

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

hectares of land.Breach in LBP Canal plugged
'The Hindu'' (Tamil Nadu), 27 Nov 2008
/ref> The main canal feeds Thadapalli and Arakkankottai channels which irrigate the cultivable lands. The canal was the brainchild M.A Eswaran, member of the legislative assembly of the Erode constituency in the early 1950s.

Opposition to Concrete Lining

In 2013, the government of Tamil Nadu took up the project of the concrete lining of the LBP canal, however, it was dropped after farmers heavily opposed it. Now again after several years, the government has planned to start this project , by just referring to renovation works which include concrete lining. According to many farmers, if the project gets started, it will severely affect the recharge of underground water, thereby posing a serious threat to the whole agriculture ecosystem and domestic water supply system and directly affecting lakhs of farmers and ordinary citizens living in the districts of

Erode Erode (; īrōṭu), is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Kaveri river and is surrounded by the Western Ghats. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in Tamil Nadu. It is the administrativ ...

Tiruppur Tiruppur or Tirupur ( ), is a city and municipal corporation in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the banks of the Noyyal river in Western Tamil Nadu, it is the fourth largest city in the state. It is the administrative capital of T ...

and

Karur Karur () is a municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Karur district and is administered by the Karur Municipal Cor ...

. According to them, groundwater will not be replenished and the entire region will be turned into a desert. Some farmers support concrete lining, but majority of farmers living in this region oppose concrete lining. These districts receive low rainfall and are classified as semi-arid regions and this canal is the only source of water for all the people living here. Several Panchayats and Municipalities depend on this canal for domestic water supply. Massive demonstrations and protests were also held against this concrete lining.

Opposition to Concrete Lining

References

See also