Farmers staging protest at PWD office campus in Madurai on Wednesday demanding ₹2,000 crore fund allocation for Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar river linking project.

| Photo Credit: R. ASHOK

Farmers representing the Cauvery-Vaigai-Kiruthamal-Gundar Irrigation Farmers’ Federation (Affiliated) and the Southern District Farmers’ Association staged a protest here on Wednesday demanding an allocation of ₹2,000 crore for the river linking project.The maiden financial Budget presented in the Legislative Assembly by the newly assumed Tamil Nadu government, led by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, has triggered widespread disappointment among agrarian communities in the southern districts.The Budget earmarked an allocation of ₹150 crore for the long-awaited Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar link canal project, hailed as a half-century dream initiative for southern Tamil Nadu.The project is designed to provide irrigation facilities for eight lakh acres of land across seven districts: Karur, Tiruchi, Pudukottai, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar and Thoothukudi.However, farm leaders sharply criticised the financial outlay, pointing out its inadequacy. According to M. Arjunnan, General Secretary of the federation, the allocated sum was insufficient to excavate even 5 km of the canal.Recalling past execution milestones, association members noted that excavation work covering a stretch of just 4.5 km from the Zero Point at the Mayanur barrage, utilising funds sanctioned in 2021, had incurred an expenditure of ₹165 crore.The mega-project has been structured across three distinct phases. For the crucial first phase alone, aimed at cutting a 118-km canal from Mayanur to South Vellaru in Pudukottai, a comprehensive Detailed Project Report (DPR) amounting to ₹6,900 crore has already been prepared.Weighing the current fiscal provision against the massive scale of the blueprint, Mr. Arjunnan argued that progress at this pace would stretch the completion timeline to half a century.Voicing deep dismay on behalf of the agrarian belt, Mr. Arjunnan urged Mr. Vijay to substantially scale up funding by allocating at least ₹2,000 crore specifically for the project within the ongoing fiscal Budget to rescue the southern districts from recurring agricultural distress. Published - September 02, 2026 06:14 pm IST