THANJAVUR / NAGAPATTINAM: The announcement of Mettur dam’s opening brought cheer to farmers in the Cauvery delta who had to forgo kuruvai crop for eight years in the past. Even as farmers hailed the State government, the made an appeal to ensure channels were in good shape so that water flowed till the tail-end areas.
K Koothalingam of Pallathur near Pattukkottai said desilting of the Grand Anaicut canal should be completed at the earliest.
R Sukumaran of Kakkarai called for kuruvai package, similar to the one where `4,000 per acre was given as back-ended subsidy for machine planting and supply of fertilisers.
Sami Natarajan, secretary, Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, said co-operative and scheduled commercial banks should advance fresh crop loans without conditions. Further, he suggested that government depots issue short-term paddy seeds of 105 days’ duration.
PS Masilamani, deputy secretary, Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, called upon the government to immediate release crop insurance compensation for 2019-20.
Farmers in the tail-end Vennaru region called for completion of kudimaramathu works before water flowed into Nagapattinam district. “This (kuruvai) cultivation could be the Deepavali which we had missed in the previous eight years, All desilting works should be completed in a month so that we receive water,” said Cauvery V Dhanabalan, a farmer leader from Kilvelur.
“We are happy that we would receive Cauvery-Vennaru waters after nine years. It is now a race against time with just 20-odd days to go. The PWD and Rural Development department must fast-track the work,” said C Sabanathan, a farmer from Thirukkuvalai in Keezhaiyur.
A total of 131 Kudimaramathu works would be taken up across Nagapattinam at a cost of `36.05 crore. PWD officials said they expected water to flow into Vennaru by June 22.
“We hope to finish 90 per cent of works in a month. We would expedite the work so water reaches the fields on time,” said a senior official in PWD-WRO.
As for renovation of C and D channels under the MGNREGS, MS Prasanth, additional Collector and Project Officer of DRDA, said, “We could have finished the works had it not been for the corona crisis. We are hoping to finish the works in time before the arrival of water.”