Releasing the water from Vaigai dam for the 58-canal system, Ministers P. Moorthy and Palanivel Thiaga Rajan hoped it would benefit the farmers from Madurai and Dindigul districts.
The farmers in Usilampatti in Madurai district were happy about the release as the water would enable them to cultivate close to 2,000 hectares of land in the area. Apart from 33 tanks getting water from the dam through the 58-canal system here, the water course helps recharge the ground water level to a great extent.
The PWD engineers said that for irrigation purposes 150 cusecs of water would be released in the 58-canal system, when the storage level in the Vaigai dam crossed 67 feet (max level is 71 ft and as on date, it was 69.5 ft). The State had issued an order to release water and apart from Madurai, farmers in Dindigul too would benefit to an extent of 373 hectares from the release, they added.
When Chief Minister M. K. Stalin visited Pappapatti on October 2 to participate in the special gram sabha meeting, the farmers made a representation to release water in the 58-canal system, Mr Moorthy recalled and said that the CM had kept his words.
He also recalled that after about 14 years, for the first time, water for irrigation from the Mullaperiyar dam was released on June 1. The DMK government, he said, would support the farmers and he appealed to them to use the water judiciously.
Madurai Collector Aneesh Shekhar, Theni Collector K. V. Muralidharan and Dindigul Collector S. Visakan and other senior officers from the PWD and other departments, representatives from the farmers’ associations and others participated in the ceremony.
