CHENNAI: Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan on Saturday said the work on Cauvery-Gundar Link Canal Project would be completed by the DMK government as the land acquisition and canal construction works are progressing swiftly.

Replying to a call attention motion moved by AIADMK MLA C Vijayabaskar, he said the former minister spoke as if the project was conceived and launched by e ex-CM Edappadi K Palaniswamy. “It was former CM Karunanidhi who conceived the project and allocated funds for the construction of the shutter in 2008,” he said.

The minister said the previous AIADMK government allocated Rs 600 crore for the land acquisition for the first phase of the river-linking project but spent only Rs 31.33 crore and acquired 70.6 acres of land. After DMK came to power, it allocated Rs 312 crore in 2021-22 and 2022-23 to acquire 699 acres of land and a further Rs 554 crore in 2023-24 for the land acquisition.

The DMK veteran noted that the AIADMK government did not allocate funds for canal works. “The DMK government allocated Rs 177 crore in 2021-22 and completed 60 per cent of the works. For 2023-24, we allocated Rs 113 crore,” he said.

Earlier, alleging that the land acquisition and works were progressing at a slow pace, Vijayabaskar said: “The project was launched during EPS tenure. The present minister, with long experience in the department, should speed up the works.”

CPM MLA M Chinnadurai said the project would benefit eight lakh farmers in seven districts.