Veeranam Lake
| Veeranam Lake | |
|---|---|
| Location | Cuddalore district, Tamilnadu, South India |
| Coordinates | 11°20′10″N 79°32′40″E / 11.33611°N 79.54444°E |
| Type | reservoir, intermittent |
| Catchment area | 25 |
| Basin countries | India |
| Max. length | 11.2 |
| Max. width | 4 |
Veeranam Lake is located 14 kilometres SSW of Chidambaram in Cuddalore district in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India. The lake located 235 km from Chennai, India, is one of the water reservoirs from where water is planned to be supplied to Chennai.
Veeranam project[1] for supply of water to Chennai was conceived in 1967 by the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, C. N. Annadurai, and executed under his successor M. Karunanidhi but was subject to rampant corruption and money earmarked for the project was lost leading to stagnation of the project. The project's completion in 2004 was a major political victory for the AIADMK government of the time due to the project's long history of corruption and politicking. Ironically it was impossible to use any water from the lake since it had run dry, and the face saving proposal adopted by the authorities was to dig 45 deep borewells around the area and pump the resulting water 235 kilometers to Chennai via the pipeline[2]. The new direction that the project took was heavily criticized by local farmers and conservationists who feared that the depletion of the ground water resulting from the mammoth bore wells would ring the death knell for the already suffering local agriculture, and the flora and fauna of the region. Veeranam Lake was created during Chola period in the tenth century, built from 1011 to 1037 AD[3] and is an 16 km (10 mile) long dam in northern Tamil Nadu.
Ironically, the lake remains dry for a major part of the year.
In literature
The opening chapter of the much celebrated book Ponniyin Selvan is set on the banks of the Veera Narayanar Lake. Kalki gives an elaborate description of the features of the lake and the way multiple rivers flow into the lake. He also makes a reference to the fact, that Ramanujacharya decided on the number of peetas based on the number of openings in the lake.
Notes
- ^ V. Sridhar (May 08 - 21, 2004). "A pipe dream?". Frontline. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ V. Sridhar (May 08 - 21, 2004). "A pipe dream?". Frontline. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Veeranam Lake". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-13.