Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting that the State be included in the Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) that was launched on Wednesday.
The scheme, being implemented at a cost of ₹6,000 crore, intends to strengthen participatory and sustainable groundwater management at 8,350 village panchayats in 78 districts of seven States, including Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Pointing to the exclusion of Tamil Nadu, Mr. Palaniswami highlighted that 541 of the 1,166 firkas in the State fell under ‘critical’ and ‘over-exploited’ categories in terms of groundwater. Tamil Nadu was a water-stressed State and had utilised surface water potential to the maximum possible limit. Reliance on groundwater due to the vagaries of monsoon led to depletion of groundwater levels, he said.
The CM said the State government had launched a number of schemes and projects like kudimaramathu, construction of check dams, artificial recharge structures and an innovative mission called Tamil Nadu Water Resources Conservation and Augmentation Mission.
He said that under these circumstances, the inclusion of Tamil Nadu in ATAL JAL will help further augment its groundwater resources.
