Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on August 13 raised the shutters of Mettur dam to release water for irrigation.
The water level at the dam crossed 100 ft against a total scale of 120 ft at 4.30 a.m. on Monday. At 8 a.m., the water level at the dam was at 101.22 ft and the stored capacity of water at the dam was 66,431mcft. The dam had an inflow of 2,30,000 cusecs of water and the inflow at Biligundulu was 2,35,000 cusecs.
(Video credit: E. Lakshmi Narayanan)
According to officials, 3,000 cusecs of water were released from the dam, and this will be gradually be increased to 10,000 cusecs. As many as 6.5 lakh hectares of agricultural land in 12 districts are expected to benefit.
As many as 1,000 cusecs of water would also be released in the east-west canal for 137 days, a release said.
Ministers K.A.Sengottaiyan, K.P.Anbazhagan, K.C.Karuppannan, V.Saroja and M.R. Vijayabhaskar were present.
