Vaigai dam reaches full capacity, farmers seek water release for agriculture
MADURAI: Following incessant rain in its catchment areas, the storage levels of Vaigai dam are close to its full capacity. With the dam reaching 67 feet (total storage of the dam is 71 feet), farmers in Madurai are pressing towards releasing water for irrigation.
According to official sources, the inflow at Vaigai dam has decently increased over the past two days. As on Monday, the dam is receiving 2,680 cusecs inflow of water and the outflow is maintained at 69 cusecs. Periyar dam is having an inflow of 980 cusec and the outflow is maintained at 105 cusec, with its storage staying at 125.85 feet. Official sources said the proposal for releasing water has been sent to the state government.
Notably, this will be the first time this year water will be released from Vaigai dam for irrigation. Farmers missed out on the Kuruvai season owing to irrigation woes, as water was not released due to minimal storage. Even though two months have passed since the second crop has started, water has not been released from the dam as the available water would not be sufficient for both single and dual crops.
Kurunji Kumaran, a single crop season farmers from Melur said, "If water is first released to double crop farmers and then to single crop farmers, single crop farmers in the tailend areas such as myself would not get water on time. Preference should be given to single crop farmers during water release." Similarly, double crop farmers have requested the government to give preference to them.
"As of last week, farmers have started sowing in only 6,400 hectares. Following decent rainfall and the increased inflow of water at Vaigai dam, many farmers have started nursery works in their fields. In the coming weeks, the acreage of samba crops are likely to increase," said a senior official from the agriculture department.