A section of farmers belonging to the 45,000 acres of double crop area coming under Periyar irrigation petitioned Madurai district administration on Monday, demanding the immediate release of water from Vaigai dam for samba cultivation.
P. Moorthy, Madurai East MLA belonging to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, who accompanied the farmers, pointed out that Vaigai dam had crossed the 50-feet mark and the combined Periyar credit in the dam was also more than 4,000 mcft, making it the right time for the Public Works Department to release water.
“Farmers in the district faced crop failure in the past two years. With the first crop for this year also failing completely, they are hoping at least for a good samba
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A.N.M. Tirupathi, a farmer from Kulamangalam, said further delay in releasing the water to double-crop region may end up in benefiting none of the farmers. “With the rains received so far, this will be the right time to begin sowing. The northeast monsoon rains expected in November and December will also come in handy for the wetting” he said.
He added that the PWD must not wait for the combined Periyar credit to go up further, so that it could release the water for the entire 1.5 lakh acres in the district coming under Periyar irrigation, including the single-crop areas in Melur region.
“If they want to wait and release water for everyone, it might end up benefiting neither the double crop nor the single crop farmers. At least the single crop farmers have a bright chance of taking a bountiful samba crop now,” he said.
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R. Gunalan, District Revenue Officer, assured the farmers that he would consult with the PWD on the possibility of releasing water.
The farmers, who subsequently met senior PWD officials from the Periyar-Vaigai Circle, were, however, told by the officials that the water presently available was not sufficient for release.