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The water released from Mettur Reservoir to provide a much-needed wetting for the late samba crop in the delta region has reached fields in tail-end areas of Nagapattinam district, much to the relief of farmers who were worried over the fate of the crop.
Many farmers in the district went in for a late samba crop with the help of monsoon showers after water release from Mettur Dam was stopped on October 10 last year in view of poor storage. But as the crops started withering, farmers in the delta started demanding release of water to save the crop.
Based on their requests, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin ordered the release of two tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet) of water from the dam from February 3. Initially, the water discharge stood at 6,600 cusecs and gradually reduced to 5,600 cusecs and 4,600 cusecs. The Chief Minister subsequently extended the water release from Mettur Dam until February 10 to ensure that the water reached the tail-end areas.
The official machinery was geared up to ensure this. Additional Chief Secretary of the Water Resource Department Sandeep Saxena made an inspection of water flow right from Mettur to the delta region.
According to sources in the Agriculture Department in Nagapattinam, district-level teams were formed to coordinate and monitor the water flow. Five Joint Directors of Agriculture were deputed to monitor the water flow and requirements along with WRD and Revenue officials in Nagapattinam district alone.
“We have been in the field over the past few days and monitoring the situation closely. We have been coordinating with the WRD officials to ensure supply to all areas. We are making sure that supply is cut off once adequate water flowed to fields in a particular area and the water is diverted to other places where it is required,” said an official in the district.
Nagapattinam Collector Johny Tom Varghese, after inspecting the water flow to paddy fields in different parts of the district on Monday, said the standing crop on about 17,390 acres in 138 villages in the district required water. Of this, about 8,559 acres had got water by February 11 and the remaining areas would get supply before Wednesday.
Tiruvarur Collector T. Charushree inspected the flow to fields in tail-end areas in Thituthuraipoondi and Muthupet on Tuesday.
Agriculture department officials on Tuesday told The Hindu that almost all areas had got water in Nagapattinam district. In a few places where the sub channels were situated on higher place, farmers were using motor pumpsets to pump the water to the fields from the channels, an official said.
A senior official said the wetting would be adequate for the crop, which was about 90-100 days old. “The crops would be ready for harvest in about 20 days from now,” the official said.
Thanking the Chief Minister for ordering the release and the officials for their assistance, Cauvery Dhanapalan, president of Tamil Nadu Vivasaya Sangankalin Kootamaippu, said the move had helped save the standing late samba crop and expressed confidence that the farmers would be able to see through the crop.
