TIRUCHY: Irrigation channels and their branch canals are considered the lifeline of the delta region. Though huge funds are being spent to desilt the canals, farmers said more effort is needed to ensure better water supply to all parts of the region.
At least 17 irrigation canals originate from the Cauvery and run for over 706 km in the delta region, irrigating over 1.82 lakh acres. While the State’s Agriculture Budget said, before the Mettur dam was opened on June 12 for Kuruvai cultivation, channels irrigating nearly 5 lakh acres were desilted at a cost of `65.11 crore, farmers in many parts said the the work was incomplete.
“Though major canals are desilted annually by the Public Works Department, branch canals are often ignored. Hyacinth spread over the surface of canals often blocks free flow, resulting in breaches. Recently, branch canals of Uyyakondan channel in Pulivalam, Kodiyalam and other areas in Andanallur block faced this issue. The monsoon might spoil the Samba crops if the hyacinth is not cleared soon,” explained Ayilai Sivasooriyan, farmer and district secretary of TN Farmers Association.
Similarly, government often takes up the work too late in the year, experts said. “Every year due to funding issues, desilting is taken up May, as water release is scheduled for June (for Kuruvai). As a result, only 60 per cent of the work is completed. We want the government to take action by allocating funds earlier,” Kalaivanan of the Senior Agro Technologist Forum, adding that leaving at least three months for the process would ensure better execution.
District administrations’ lack of adequate machinery has also resulted in disaster for farmers. In the coastal delta regions districts of Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai, over 80,000 of 1,30,000 hectares of Samba paddy were lost just before harvest owing to unseasonal rain earlier this year. Farmers blamed lack of proper desilting of drain channels for causing the inundation of fields.
“Due to lack of a adequate machinery, desilting could not be done at several places simultaneously,” complained SN Sekar, a farmer from Mayiladuthurai. Farmers also said improper desilting could lead to problems. “The Kattalai high-level canal runs for 61 km from Mayanur to Thayanur, irrigating nearly 20,000 acres. The recent desilting work helped deepen the canal.
This has kept water from reaching tail-end areas. Over the years, the width of canal banks have also shrunk from 7 feet to 1.5 feet in some parts. If the canal banks are narrow, they are easily breached when water flow is high,” Kaundampatti R Subramaniam, farmer and deputy secretary of the Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association.
Meanwhile, residents, farmers and activists lamented that there are waterbodies that had neither been restored nor desilted for years. “The Ulavayal canal is the only source of irrigation for 10,000 acres in Kulandhiranpatti village. The canal has not been desilted and been crying for attention for more than a decade. This canal feeds a big lake in our village. Because of the silt, water is not reaching the lake,” Durai Guna, an activist from Pudukkottai said. Similarly, S Ragavan, an environment activist, said many ponds, lakes, irrigation lakes, including the Chinnaru reservoir, and rivers like the Marudaiyaru, Kallaru, Koneri and Chinnaru have been neglected for years.
With authorities paying little heed, people in several villages, including Keezhumathur, Nathakadu, Panangur and Nochchiyam, have raised funds and desilted waterbodies on their own. Asked about issues involved in desilting water bodies, an expert at the PWD said the department would not randomly desilt canals with machinery. “We have the original diagram of canals and branch canals. Based on the original parameters, desilting is done. The removed silt will be used to strengthen the banks of the canal,” the expert said.
‘Waterbodies not desilted for years’
Residents, farmers and activists lament that there are waterbodies that have neither been restored nor desilted for years. The Ulavayal canal is the only source of irrigation for 10,000 acres in Kulandhiranpatti village. The canal has not been desilted... for more than a decade,” said Durai Guna, an activist
In this series, TNIE focuses on the need to conserve water before it’s too late
(With inputs from N Ramesh in Thanjavur, Antony Fernando in Nagapattinam, and Thiruselvam in Perambalur/Ariyalur)