With no chance of opening the Mettur dam for kuruvai crop, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday announced Rs 41 crore package benefitting farmers in the delta region.
According to an official release, the present storage level at Mettur dam stood at 72.64 feet and the inflow was 7,058 cusecs. Even if Karnataka releases 10 tmc of water as per the tribunal’s final award the storage will only be 79 feet at the end of June. For opening the dam at the scheduled date of June 12, a minimum storage of 90 feet was required, the Chief Minister said ruling out such a possibility this year. However, she announced a package to motivate farmers to take up kuruvai crop as the rainfall this summer has been good this year. Like in three previous years, the farmers in the delta region will be provided with three phase power for 12 hours. In a bid to encourage delta farmers to take up mechanisation in agriculture, they will be encouraged to use transplanters under System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method. The government will also provide Rs 315 as subsidy per acre for farmers to use mineral mixture and improve the yield during kuruvai cultivation. The government funding will be Rs 7.87 crore.