TIRUCHY: Sources from the Water Resources Organisation of the Public Works Department (WRO-PWD), in response to increasing demands by farmers in the delta districts to release water from the Mettur Dam, have cited the impracticality of heeding their call, since it could affect water supply for the upcoming kuruvai season. Farmers from Tiruchy and other delta districts had demanded that water from Mettur dam not be stopped until May, after supply to these districts had stopped after January 28.
District collector M Pradeep Kumar had also written a letter to the PWD-WRO department to continue releasing water from the dam. However, an official from the PWD WRO said, "Considering the present condition farmers are asking us to release water, if we do it now, but for the kuruvai season we would need water for 6-7 lakh hectares if we exhaust then again we'll be blamed." Ayalai Siva Suriyan of the All India Kisan Sabha-CPI (AIKS-CPI) said,
"We need at least 3,000 cusecs released from Mettur for the benefit of year long crops like banana, betel leaf and other similar crops. It could also help in the black gram cultivation, post Samba harvest across the delta region." On Speaking to a state level official from the PWD WRO department, he said, "We have asked our officials to identify places in need of assistance.
So far we have supplied water for 17 lakh acres, that was our target as well. On the one hand we need to do repair works, and on the other kuruvai cultivation will be affected if we release the water now." A senior official from the agriculture department remarked that the stoppage of water supply could only hit Thanjavur and Nagapattinam since samba cultivation in both districts started late and that a lot would depend on the weather in the coming weeks.