Chennai, Tamil Nadu water resources department is to commence building 47 check dams in May at an investment of Rs 190.73 crore, Water Resource Department Minister S. Duraimurugan said.

The dams are being built in 24 districts in the state, including Chengalpattu and Kancheepuram. Minister Duraimurugan while speaking to IANS said: "The check dam is an ambitious project of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to recharge groundwater and to help the farmers get adequate water for irrigation and drinking water purposes. The 47 check dams to be built will benefit nearly 1.5 lakh acres of agricultural land in 24 districts of the state."

Sources in the Tamil Nadu Water Resources department said that the work will commence in the second week of May and the department is expecting the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to sanction the loan for the project.

Immediately after assuming office, Chief Minister Stalin had announced the building of 1,000 check dams in the state in the next 10 years for recharging groundwater.

Water resources department sources told IANS that of the total check dams, nine will be in Tiruchi district alone.

Other than the 47 check dams that are coming up with NABARD support, work for 10 is already in the process at Coimbatore, Salem, Tenkasi, Karur, Theni, Tirupathur, Virudhunagar, Tiruvallur, and Tiruppur districts of the state.

"We are in the process of recharging groundwater using check dams and the Chief Minister is closely monitoring this project. We hope that within a period of ten years the state will have adequate groundwater when all the 1,000 check dams that the Chief Minister envisaged become functional."