Tamilnadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa orders statue for Pandiya chieftain
Posted on: 20/Sep/2013 2:23:00 PM
Yesterday Tamilnadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa announced that a statue of Pandiya kingdom chieftain Kalingarayan, who built Kalingarayan dam, would be installed at Nagavampalayam in Erode. She also said the area surrounding the dam would be converted as a tourist spot.
She recalled that her government had been set up memorials to honor great people who built dams and reservoirs to ensure water for irrigation.
The Chief Minister said, “Kalingarayan was the one who built the dam and channel which are helping many parts of Erode district. There were requests from the people of the region that the government should erect a statue of him.”
The Kalingarayan Canal is a 90-mile long irrigation canal in the Erode region. It was constructed by the Kongu chieftain completed in the year 1283. This runs parallel to Cauvery River.
The canal was designed with a meandering route to maximize the amount of land which benefited.
It starts with a dam called Kalingarayan Dam-Reservoir on River Bhavani, near Bhavani and flows through entire Erode and terminates at a place near Kodumudi.
Recently, based on instructions from Jayalalithaa, water for irrigation was released in the Kalingarayan canal which benefited more than 15,000 acres of land.
