HC orders notice to Central Board of Irrigation and Power, Kerala Chief Secretary The Madras High Court Bench here on Tuesday ordered notices to the Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP) and the Chief Secretary to the Government of Kerala on a public interest litigation petition to revive Pampa-Achankovil-Vaipar Link Project (PAVLP), shelved by the Centre way back in 2006 following opposition from Kerala. A Division Bench of Justice A. Selvam and Justice V.S. Ravi also ordered notice, returnable by April 23, to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu. Mass Education and Action for Rural Development Society, a non-governmental organisation based in Virudhunagar and represented by its president R. Thangaraja, had filed the PIL petition. According to the NGO, the PAVLP was one among many inter-basin water transfer schemes formulated by the National Water Development Agency (NDWA) for utilising surplus water available in one river basin to another river basin facing acute water shortage. The project proposes diversion of water from Pampa and Achankovil rivers in Kerala to irrigate areas under Vaipar river basin in Tamil Nadu. Claiming that 240 tmc feet of surplus water from Pampa river flowed into the Arabian Sea every year after flowing through 176 kilometres of forest area in Kerala, the petitioner said the water could be utilised to irrigate 94,000 hectares of land in Madurai, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga and Tirunelveli districts if the PAVLP was implemented successfully. Under the PAVLP, there were plans to construct a 150-metre-high concrete dam on Pampa-Kallar at Punnamedu, a 160-metre-high concrete dam on Achenkovil Kallar at Chittarmoozhy and a 35-metre-high gravity dam on Achankovil river. It also proposed construction of many tunnels for diverting the water from one reservoir to another until it reaches Azhagar, a tributary of the Vaippar river. Stating that the project would be beneficial for the people of Tamil Nadu in many ways as it would help in hydro power generation too, the NGO sought a direction to the CBIP to implement it at the earliest.