Water was released through the 18th Canal and Thanthai Periyar Canal to irrigate single crop areas in three taluks of Theni district on Wednesday.
Collector K.V. Muralidharan released the water from the head sluice of the 18th Canal at Lower Camp under Manjalaru Division of Water Resources Department.
According to WRD sources, 98 cusecs of water would be released through the 18th Canal (Palanivel Rajan Canal) for 30 days to irrigate 4,614.25 acres of land in Uthamapalayam (2,045.35 acres) and Bodinaickanur (2,568.90 acres) taluks. A total of 255 mcft of water would be released to fill 44 tanks that would benefit 13 villages in the two taluks.
Already some of the tanks have the minimum storage due to the recent rain. Executive Engineer (Manjalaru Division) V. Sugumaran, Assistant Executive Engineer S. Ramesh and Assistant Engineer Basith Khan were present.
Similarly, 100 cusecs of water was released from Thanthai Periyar Canal. The water that would be released for 120 days would benefit 5,146 acres of land — 830 acres in Uthamapalayam taluk and 4,316 acres in Theni taluk. The system has 17 tanks.
The Collector has appealed to the farmers of both the systems to judiciously use the available water.
