Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Water released from Mettur dam

By A.V. Ragunathan

METTUR Sept. 6. As per the decision taken by the Tamil Nadu Government, water was released from the Mettur dam this evening for irrigation in the delta region.

The Salem District Collector, J. Radhakrishnan, formally released the water in the presence of the Superintending Engineer (Tiruchi PWD), S. Ramakrishnan, and the Executive Engineer (Mettur PWD), N. Subramanian, the Mettur MLA, Sundarambal, and representatives of the farming community.

Later, the SE told presspersons that to start with 5,000 cusecs of water was released, and this would be gradually stepped up to 10,000 cusecs by midnight, and to 15,000 cusecs by 8 a.m. on Saturday. The discharge would be stabilised at 15,000 cusecs till further orders from the Government.

Mr. Ramakrishnan said the quantum of the discharge had been decided based on the requirements of the delta farmers. The kuruvai crop had to be skipped for want of water, and the present discharge would take care of 8 lakh acres of samba crop.

Asked whether the Karnataka Government had released 1.25 tmcft of water as directed by the Supreme Court, the SE said no official communication had been received so far. If the Karnataka Government had done so, the water would reach Mettur dam only by Saturday morning.

Asked what would be the procedure when water was released from Karnataka in the normal course, the SE said Tamil Hadu had placed an assistant engineer at the gauging station in Mysore, and he would be sending information on the date and quantum of water release from there.

However, this time around, as the Supreme Court order had come in this connection, the Karnataka side did not seem to have shared any information with the AE, and the Tamil Nadu side was totally in the dark about the situation.

The SE said water from the dam would reach the Grand Anaicut by September 10, and on the same day, it would be released for the delta farmers. Of the total quantum of 15,000 cusecs, 5,000 cusecs would be utilised by farmers in the Mettur-Tiruchi region, and the remaining 10,000 cusecs would be available for the delta farmers.

The EE, Subramanian, said as per the regular schedule, the release should continue till January 28, 2003, but owing to a shortfall in the water level, no schedule had been fixed as of now.

To a question as to when water would be released in the east and west bank canals, benefiting the farmers in the districts of Salem and Namakkal, the SE said recommendations in this regard had been sent to the State Government today. The requirement of the farmers covered under both the canals was about 1,000 cusecs, and a decision would be taken in three-four days.

Today's water level

The water level at the Mettur dam stood at 66.940 ft and the capacity at 30.128 tmcft. While the inflow was 2,465 cusecs, the outlfow was 2,012 cusecs.

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