Farmers Celebrate As Tamil Nadu Releases Mettur Water On Due Date

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin released waters from the Mettur Dam today to irrigate the delta region. The water would help the Kuruvai crop across the 12 delta districts including Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur, covering nearly 17.5 lakh acres. 

Initially, 3,000 cusecs of water was released, and the outflow will be gradually increased well above 10,000 cusecs.

Following the early monsoon and recent heavy rains in the Cauvery catchment areas in Karnataka, the stored water in the Mettur dam stood at 114.62 feet at 8 am today. 

While this storage alone would be inadequate to sustain till the harvest, authorities are hopeful that a good monsoon this season will meet the region's irrigation needs.

300 km away at Nagapattinam, there were celebrations. Farmers burst crackers. It is not every year that waters are released on the designated date of June 12, raising hopes for two crops through the year. 

Dhanabal, a well-known farmer in the area, said, "This gives us hope that we could cultivate in all 17 lakh acre and we could aim for the Thaladi crop as well. That's why farmers are happy". 

"It is important, authorities should focus and ensure the river and channels are desilted besides availability of fertilisers," he added. 

The sharing of Cauvery waters has been a fraught issue between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka - especially in years there is a deficit monsoon. The situation persists despite a clear water sharing formula from the Supreme Court.

With the southwest monsoon setting in early and the weatherman's forecast about an above average rainfall, farmers hope Karnataka would comply with the month-wise water sharing and that they would have a bountiful harvest.

a(With inputs from Gopika Subramanian)