The AIADMK, if voted to power in 2026, will conduct detailed study on diverting surplus water of Tamirabharani from Papanasam dam to Manimuthar dam, said the former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
Mr. Palaniswami assured a group of farmers, which met him on Tuesday at Courtallam during his Makkalai Kaappom, Thamizhagaththai Meetpom campaign, that if the outcome of this study was positive, the project would be implemented at any cost.
Farmers complained to Mr. Palaniswami that the irrigation tanks had not been dredged in the last four years. While the irrigation tanks had thousands of truck loads of silt, permission had not been given to potters to take it free of cost to nourish their ranches even as the realtors were allowed to take it illegally for commercial purposes. “While several thousands of cusecs of water is going waste, the government is not in a mood to construct checkdams to improve water table,” the farmers complained.
Mr. Palaniswami said the AIADMK hired the services of retired Superintending Engineers and the Chief Engineers of Water Resources and the Public Works Department to select sites for constructing checkdams.
“After taking up kudimaramaththu for deepening and strengthening the irrigation tanks in a big way, we had selected four sites for constructing checkdams across the Cauvery and as many spots across the Tamirabharani. But, the DMK government, which came to power in 2021, shelved these projects for reasons best known to Chief Minister Stalin. When we return to power, we will fulfil all your genuine demands,” Mr. Palaniswami assured.
Livelihood issues
Tamil Nadu Differently-abled Legal Protection Association president R. Shanmugasundaram, in a memorandum to Mr. Palaniswami, said Mr. Stalin, who issued more than 50 Government Orders for the welfare of the people with disabilities, had not taken any step to implement these orders. The orders on roadside shops and allotting 5% of shops under urban and the rural local bodies to the people with disabilities remained on paper.
“Even after complaints were submitted to the Collectors concerned about the differently-abled being not allowed to participate in the auction, action was not taken due to political pressure and coercion. The monthly assistance for the differently-abled should be increased to ₹3,000 and the AIADMK should create a wing for us and get our demands to be included in the AIADMK’s poll manifesto,” Mr. Shanmugasundaram said.
Association treasurer Gandhimathi said the DMK’s promise of reserving 4% of the government jobs for people with disabilities with necessary educational qualification was yet to be implemented.
Mr. Palaniswami recalled that retrofitted motorcycles at an estimate of ₹52 crore were given to 10,000 persons with disabilities during the AIADMK rule while 5,000 persons received battery-operated wheelchairs worth ₹45 crore. Moreover, over 2 lakh physically challenged persons were given welfare assistance totalling ₹330 crore during AIADMK regime, he said.
“The differently-abed candidates appearing for the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission and Union Public Service Commission were given ₹50,000 each by the AIADMK government. Subsidy for self-employment was increased to ₹25,000. As life has become a struggle for you, we’ll be with you in facing and neutralising these challenges as we return to power,” Mr. Palaniswami said.
A group of government schoolchildren, who have got admission in the medical colleges thanks to the 7.50% reservation introduced by the previous AIADMK government, met and thanked Mr. Palaniswami, who presented them stethoscope.
