The Water Resources Department will soon carry out repairs to the damaged apron downstream the barrage across the Cauvery at Mukkombu (Upper Anicut) near Tiruchi.

The State government has sanctioned ₹126 crore for the work as per the announcement made in the Assembly during the discussion on the department grants.

The concrete floor on the riverbed and huge boulders of the apron, downstream the barrage shutters across the Cauvery at Mukkombu had suffered extensive damage and had been lying in disarray for the past few years.

Some of the huge concrete boulders are lying in a heap at a few places and some others had sunk into the river bed. The damage was largely caused due to the heavy discharge of water through the barrage for over a hundred days during the monsoon in 2021. The WRD subsequently submitted a proposal to the government for repairing the apron at a cost of about ₹150 crore.

The apron is a vital structure that prevents scouring, which could potentially damage the barrage, during the water flow.

The barrages across the Cauvery and the Kollidam are vital structures for regulating the water flow to the delta and hence farmers have been urging the government over the past few years to take up the project on priority. It is from the Upper Anicut that the flow of water in the Cauvery and Grand Anicut is managed by the WRD. Whenever there is surplus flow, the water is diverted into the Kollidam from here.

With the collapse of a portion of the barrage across the Kollidam due to heavy water flow in 2018 remaining fresh in memory, farmers were worried that the damage to the apron could impact the stability of the barrage across the Cauvery too.

“We welcome the sanction of funds for the renovation of the apron and the project should be executed expeditiously in a comprehensive manner,” said Koundampatti R. Subramanian, Deputy Secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association.

Sources in the WRD said the tender for the work would be floated soon.

The barrage across the Cauvery was commissioned in 1977. It had been designed for a maximum discharge of 1,80,000 cusecs and nearly 12 lakh acres in the delta region are irrigated through the barrage.

Published - August 20, 2026 06:41 pm IST