Coimbatore : The foundation stone for the much awaited Athikadavu-Avanashi Water Scheme will be laid by this end, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Edapadi Palanisamy said Wednesday.

Inaugurating a Rs.1.5 memorial to farmers Icon, Narayanasamy Naidu at Vaiyampalayam about 40 Kms from here, Palanisamy said that the tender process for the Rs.1,652 crore projects already completed and works in progress.

The foundation stone for the project, the over 50 years dream of the people and farmers, will be laid by end of this month,he said.

Some more areas like SS Kulam, Periyanaickenplayam and Annur West have been added under the phase two, following requests from the local MLAs and MPs and also the farmers, he said.

The government has proposed to open a food park near Chennai at a cost of Rs.2,000 crore and the process to acquire about 300 acres of land for the purpose is going on, he said.

The park will benefit the farmers, as their produce like vegetable and fruits will be stored by providing cold storage for export purpose, he said.

Similarly, steps will be taken to prevent the rain waters going waste to sea through Godavari-Cauvery Linking project initiated by the Centre, by which the state will get 200 TMC of water, he said.

Tamil Nadu is the major beneficiary under the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance scheme, Palanisamy said.

A veterinary research centre will be established in the State, which would be the largest in Asia, he said.

Municipal Administration minister, S P Velumani, Information and Publicity minister, Kadambur C Raju, Deputy speaker of State Assembly Pollachi V Jayaraman and local MLAs were present at the function, with large numbers of farmers from the area.