Stalin: Preliminary work for Hogenakkal on



Preliminary work for calling tenders for the Rs 1,334 crore Japanese aided Hogenakkal drinking water project was underway and it would be completed on schedule, Local Administration Minister M K Stalin said on Sunday (August 17).

"Tender preparations for the Hogenakkal drinking water project is on and it will be completed onschedule," he said. The project envisages provision of drinking water to over 40 lakh people in the two districts of Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri, bordering Karnataka.

Tamil Nadu had earlier put on hold the project in the wake of the May assembly elections in Karnataka. After the elections were over, the state had formally started the work with the opening of the project office.


 

Stalin, speaking to reporters after inspecting work on the Rs 616 crore Integrated Drinking water Project for Ramanathapuram district at Kambarasanpettai here, said he expected this project to be completed by April 2009, instead of in 2010.

The minister, who distributed Rs 37 crore revolving fund to 2000 women's Self Help Groups, said SHGs had played a major role in the economic development of Tamil Nadu. "In fact, they are the deciding factors in the economic growth of the state. That is why when economic growth of the country was 8.2%, Tamil Nadu's growth rate was 10.2%," he said.

Stalin also inaugurated a Common Effluent Treatment plant built by the Tiruchirappali Tanners association at Thiruvalarchipatti. (PTI)