Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish, Ambasamudram MLA R Murugiah Pandian and other officials released water for irrigation for the Tamirabarani farmers here on Sunday.
Following representations made, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami directed the PWD engineers to assess the water storage in the reservoirs and release it in such a way that the farmers in the belt benefitted.
The northeast monsoon, which had enabled widespread rains in the region, had helped the pisanam cultivation to have a wider coverage this season, officials from the Agriculture department said.
A total of 86,107 acres of land covering Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts would directly benefit from the water released from Papanasam, Servalaru and Manimuthar reservoirs through the Palayam channel and Kannadiyan channel among others in both the districts.
Apart from the farmers in the belt getting water, the groundwater table in the adjoining areas too may benefit as the water would flow through the channels for the next 151 days, the Collector said and added that 1400 cusecs of water was released in the presence of the MLA and other officials.
The farmers from Ambasamudram, Cheranmahadevi, Tirunelveli, Palayamkottai, Srivaikundam, Tiruchendur, Thoothukudi and Eral blocks would benefit through the release from the three reservoirs.
A PWD engineer said that depending on the storage level, water would be released for the above purpose and hoped the rainfall over the next few days would also help improve the storage adequately in the dams.
Farmers and water users association members expressed satisfaction over the release of water and hoped to have higher yield this season when compared to the corresponding previous year.
