ERODE: Farmers from Erode have urged the district administration to postpone the rotation of water supply in the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) main canal, which was implemented on Monday, by one month as it will affect paddy cultivation.
Water from the Lower Bhavani dam, located in Bhavanisagar in Erode, was opened to the LBP canal for irrigation on August 12. Currently, 2,300 cusecs of water has been released through the LBP, 600 cusecs through Kalingarayan and 100 cusecs through the river.
KV Ponnaiyan, a farmer and secretary of Lower Bhavani Ayakkattu Land Owners Association said, “At present, water is being supplied to over one lakh acres of land through LBP. These lands are divided into seven parts and the rotation plan has been implemented in such a way that each area gets water for only six days in a week. This is done so that water can go to the tail end, but it will affect the paddy planting work. Paddy planting can be done only if water is available continuously. So we urge the administration to implement this after one month.”
S Periyasamy, president of the association said, “Many farmers have just started paddy planting and if water is stopped even for a single day, it will affect the farmers.”
Speaking to TNIE, Kannan, executive engineer of Lower Bhavani Dam said, “There is a lot of leakage in the LBP canal, which is more than we had expected. This step has been taken so that everyone can get water up to the tail end. Until the monsoon in October, water should be provided in this way so that everyone can get equal amount of water.”