Water for irrigation in the Cauvery delta region was released from the Grand Anicut here on Wednesday. Water released from Mettur Dam on June 12, reached here on Tuesday evening.
Water will be released in turns to ensure uniform distribution through the Cauvery and Vennar rivers and the Grand Anicut Canal during the current season.
An official press release said that efforts would be initiated for equitable distribution of water for irrigation through the three waterways depending on the storage at Mettur, the inflow, the anticipated rain during the southwest monsoon and realisation of the Tamil Nadu’s legitimate share in the Cauvery river.
Further, depending on the situation and availability of storage at Mettur, water for irrigation would be released in turns from the Grand Anicut, it added.
To begin with 500 cusecs of water was being released into the three waterways for irrigation and another 500 cusecs in Coleroon river from the Grand Anicut near Thogur on the Thanjavur-Tiruchi district border from June 16.
A total of 2.94 lakh acres in Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Mayiladuthurai districts would benefit from the water being released from Grand Anicut for raising the kuruvai crop, the release added.
State Ministers K.N. Nehru, M.R.K. Panneerselvam, S. Reghupathy, Ma. Subramanian, S.S. Sivasankar, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and Siva V. Meyyanathan, Government Whip, Covi. Chezhian, Thanjavur Collector, Dinesh Ponraj Oliver, Tiruchi Collector, S. Sivarasu and others participated in the water release function held at Grand Anicut.
