Carrying withered paddy in their hands to portray the dire situation in which they have been placed, a group of farmers submitted a petition at the District Collector’s office here on Friday seeking release of water from Manimuthar dam at least for a week to save the withering crops on a few thousand acres of wetland between Cheranmahadevi and Palayamkottai.
Poor monsoon
Since storage level in all eleven dams in the district was comfortable after the harvest of ‘pisanam’ paddy season, farmers began cultivation for the ‘kar’ season on over 16,020 hectares between June and August with the hope that the southwest monsoon would be good. However, the district experienced poor monsoon this year and that has badly affected the storage level in all eleven reservoirs.
While farmers who had cultivated paddy in areas being irrigated by North Kodaimelazhagiyaan, South Kodaimelazhagiyaan and Nadhiyunni channels, the first three channels of the irrigation system, could harvest the crop as they could go in for cultivation in June itself, those who have fields beyond this point, all being fed by Kannadiyan, Kodagan, Tirunelveli and Palayam channels, are in trouble.
Leading the farmers, P. Velumayil, district president of Tamil Nadu Vivasaayigal Sangam, said the 95-day-old crop, planted on a few thousand acres beyond Cheranmahadevi, was badly in need of water at least for a week. Since the Manimuthar dam had a storage level of 54 feet now, it would be sufficient for saving the withering crops while fulfilling drinking water requirements. “When farmers of the district encountered similar situation in the past, water from Manimuthhar dam had been released to bailout the agriculturists. Hence, the district administration should release water from the dam to save the farmers from this situation,” Mr. Velumayil said.
