Water released from Mettur dam reaches Cauvery Delta region

The release of water from the Mettur dam will help irrigate 5.21 lakh acres of land across districts

Water released from the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur reached the Cauvery Delta region for the cultivation of kuruvai (short-term crop) on Wednesday. This is the second consecutive year the Cauvery water has reached on time from Mettur to facilitate kuruvai.

On Wednesday, Municipal Administration Minister K N Nehru and School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh opened the gates of the Grand Anaicut (Kalanai) at a simple ceremony. The Mettur dam was opened on June 12, keeping in mind the arrival of the southwest monsoon in Karnataka, by Chief Minister M K Stalin.

The release of water from the Mettur dam will help irrigate 5.21 lakh acres of land in Tiruchirapalli, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Pudukkottai and Cuddalore districts. To ensure that the water reaches tail-end areas, the government carried out 647 desilting work worth Rs 65.11 crore in the past few weeks.

While expressing happiness at the opening of the dam, farmers hoped that water from Mettur will flow into the Cauvery delta region without any break till October for the cultivation of crops. “Since the desilting work has been carried out, we will not have any problems in water reaching the tail-end areas. Our only prayer is that the monsoon is normal and the catchment areas in Karnataka receive heavy rain,” a farmer told DH.

The Cauvery Delta, which was used to a three-crop formula – samba, kuruvai and thaladi – had come down to just one crop a year. Till about a decade ago, cultivation would take place in three seasons – kuruvai (short-term crop) from June to September, samba (long-term crop) from August to January and thaladi from January to May – keeping the farmer busy for the whole year.

While the first two seasons primarily cultivated paddy, farmers utilised the third season to cultivate pulses for centuries together with the progressive farming community.