Tamil Nadu farmers continue to cheer as Mettur dam swells

 Amid the statewide bandh in Karnataka over the Cauvery issue, Tamil Nadu farmers continued to cheer after the water, which was released by the neighbouring state, reached Mettur dam, the lifeline of delta farmers, on Friday.

With the water flow at Biligundlu, the entry point to Tamil Nadu, already touching 16,000 cusecs, the Mettur reservoir got about 9,000 cusecs of water and its level rose to more than 76 feet.

A senior official of the Public Water Resources department, a wing of PWD department, told DH that the inflow at Biligundlu was just 10,000 cusecs on Thursday. “However, the inflow touched 16,500 cusecs as on Friday morning,” the official said. The official said the information about the inflow was also communicated to the Supervisory Committee, which was appointed by the Supreme Court, on the quantity of Cauvery water to be released to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

According to him, the inflow into Mettur dam also increased from 6,000 cusecs to 9,905 cusecs on Friday afternoon. “The water level in Mettur dam also increased to 76.74 feet,” he said. “At present, the outflow of 1,250 cusecs from Mettur, is only for drinking purpose. The Mettur dam will be opened for irrigation only if the water level touches about 90 feet,” the official pointed out. 

Farmers in Kariyapatinam in Nagapattinam and Dharmapuri and Trichy district welcomed the Cauvery water with flowers and started sowing activities.