As the southwest monsoon season would start in June first week, the farmers of the district have appealed to the Tamil Nadu Government to take immediate steps for thoroughly desilting the 7 irrigation channels in the district before May-end.
Water flowing in the 128-km-long Tamirabharani river from Papanasam dam to Punnaikayal is being stored in 8 check-dams – Kodaimelazhagiyaan, Nadhiyunni, Kannadiyan, Ariyanayagipuram, Pazhavoor, Suththamalli check-dams, all in Tirunelveli district, Marudhur and Srivaikundam check-dams in Thoothukudi district – to irrigate 86,100 acres of cultivable lands – 40,000 acre in Tirunelveli district and 46,107 acres in Thoothukudi district.
The river water getting stored in these check-dams built between Papanasam and Punnaikayal is being taken to the ranches through 11 channels viz. North Kodaimelazhagiyan, South Kodaimelazhagiyan, Nadhiyunni, Kannadiyan, Kodagan, Palayam, Tirunelveli, Marudhur Keezhakkaal, Marudhur Melakkaal, North Main and South Main Channels.
Besides serving irrigation purpose through 186 systemised tanks – 133 in Tirunelveli and 53 in Thoothukudi districts, the Tamirabharani river flowing through these channels also serves drinking water purposes and improves groundwater table substantially.
With the water available in the Tamirabharani, the farmers would go in for ‘kar’ paddy cultivation between June and September and ‘pisanam’ paddy season between October and March depending upon the availability of water in Papanasam and Manimuthar dams. If sufficient water is available in the dams even after the ‘pisanam’ season, the farmers would also cultivate paddy between March-end and June, called ‘advance kar’ season.
For all these farming operations, the 7 channels in Tirunelveli district play a vital role for taking water from the Tamirabharani to the ranches even in tail-end areas. Unfortunately, all these channels are badly waiting for a thorough desilting as the exercises conducted in the past were not properly done with the connivance of the officials, the farmers alleged.
The present state of affairs of these channels is just nauseating. Even as domestic sewage is flowing into the channels uncontrollably, the public dump at will the waste getting generated in their houses, shops, eateries etc. and even debris. And, water hyacinth (Eichhornia) has grown abundantly in all these channels that consume a sizable quantity of water besides obstructing the free flow of water in the channel.
“Even though the southwest monsoon would start in June and water would be released in the channels for ‘kar’ paddy cultivation in June if the Papanasam dam has sufficient quantity of water, the Public Works Department would start desilting work in mid-June or in July even as water is getting released in the channels every time. Hence, the work would be completed in an awkward manner with the water flowing in the channels and more than 50% of the silt would be in the channels even after the desilting work. Now, we demand the desliting of the irrigation channels before May-end so that the channels will be ready in June to receive water for ‘kar’ paddy season. Otherwise, it will only benefit the contractor identified by the PWD for the desilting work who will not properly do the work,” say a farmer S. Balamurugan from Tirunelveli Town.
The farmers believe that the ‘La Nina 2024’, as predicted by Indian Meteorological Department, would bring copious rainfall in the catchment areas of the dams and hence ‘kar’ paddy season would be profitable this time.
“Since the parliamentary elections are over in Tamil Nadu, the PWD should start the work at the earliest,” said M. Thirunavukkarasu, another farmer from Palayamkottai.
Sources in the PWD said the proposal for desilting the irrigation channels in Tirunelveli district had been submitted with the Tamil Nadu Government, which was yet to release funds for the work.
“If the fund is released before first week of May, we can complete the work before the southwest monsoon starts,” the sources said.
