TN to release water from Mettur dam from today

With the Cauvery Supervisory Committee on Monday directing Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu daily till September 30, Tamil Nadu would start releasing water from the Mettur dam for agricultural activities in the delta region on Tuesday.

Water from the Mettur dam was not released on June 12, the scheduled date, since the water level had not reached 90 feet.

A senior official of the PWD Water Resources department told DH that the water level in the Mettur reservoir is likely to touch 90 feet in a few days, if there is an uninterrupted release of water by Karnataka, as per the order of the committee. “Though the present water level is about 87 feet, water will be released hoping that the northeast monsoon will be normal. The state has received nine tmcft water from Karnataka so far,” the official added.
DH News Service

The state government has declared Rs 64.30-crore package for delta farmers in six districts for agricultural activities, besides providing 12-hour continuous power, since it could not release water on the scheduled date. Delta areas such as Tanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and parts of Salem together produce 25 lakh tonnes of paddy every year with Kuruvai and Samba cultivation.