From 123 acres of private land identified for laying a 30 km pipeline from Pillur to Pannimadai on the city outskirts for the Pillur III drinking water project, the district administration has only acquired 34 acres.
The project was proposed in 2017 and the construction work started in June 2020.
Though the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) board completed digging a 900 m tunnel at Kattanmalai the land acquisition process is delaying its commencement.
TWAD is carrying out the pipe-laying works required for the project on behalf of the city corporation. The project aims to bring an additional 178 million liters per day (MLD) of water from the Pillur dam to the city at Rs 779 crore. Currently, the city receives 150 MLD of water from Pillur I and Pillur II projects.
An official said that the district administration had identified 162 acres of land for the project. Of which 123 acres are in nine panchayats including Kurudampalayam Panimadai Gudalur south and Thekkampatti owned by 407 individuals while the rest is owned by the government.
The district administration has conducted two district-level committee (DLC) meetings with landowners to convince them to sell their land to the government for the project.
At the first DLC meeting, 201 landowners approved the proposal. Of which 142 landowners had already sold their 34 acres of land to the government.
At the second DLC meeting, another 140 landowners agreed to provide their land for the project.
According to an official the land acquisition is likely to be completed within three months.
