TN-Puducherry sign pact on sharing Pennayar water

VILLUPURAM/Puducherry,Oct 15: The Tamil Nadu and Puducherry governments today inked an agreement for sharing water in Pennayar system at Sornavur Anaicut, giving a fresh lease of life to a 1910 French-British accord.

P Raman, Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department, Tamil Nadu government and C.Anandane, PWD Chief Engineer, Puducherry, signed the agreement.

Raman later told newsmen that the agreement would be in force for 60 years ending 2029,retrospectively from 1969.The two governments were scheduled to have renewed the pact in 1969 after construction of the dam across the Pennayar at Sornavour in neighbouring Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu.

Anandane, who referred to the highlights of the pact, said the agreement would benefit as much as 4778 acres of land in Puducherry while 1275 acres would be covered in Tamil Nadu.

The first initiative was made in 1864 between the then French and British governments for an agreement. It was in 1910 that an accord was finalised for sharing water for irrigation purposes. As much as 215 cusecs would be available for the union territory.

Pennayar river, also known as South Pennayar, originates from Chenna Kesva hills, north west of Nandidurga near Ongashanhalli village in Karnataka and it is the second largest inter-state east flowing river, a release said.

After traversing 85 km in Karnataka the river enters Tamil Nadu near Bagalaur village of Hosur taluk and flows through Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram and Cuddalore districts of Tamil Nadu. It reaches Bay of Bengal after traversing a short distance through five villages of Bahoor commune panchayat limits here. The Sornavur Anaicut was constructed in 1969 and is in Villupuram district, 45 km from Puducherry.