NAGAPATTINAM: With the state agriculture budget presented on Tuesday allocating Rs 5 crore towards desilting channels in the Cauvery and Vennaru basins, farmers in the coastal delta region demand work to begin in April in order to facilitate timely Cauvery water distribution following Mettur dam release for kuruvai cultivation.
The Mettur dam’s storage level is currently above 100 feet and its storage capacity is at about 69 tmcft. It is expected to reach its maximum storage level of 120 feet and capacity of about 93 tmcft soon. Every year, Cauvery water is released from Mettur dam to facilitate irrigation of kuruvai cultivation in the delta region. While the customary date to release water is June 12, the sluice gates were opened on May 24 last year, facilitating early seasonal cultivation.
Desilting of canals and channels will irrigate cultivation over 1.32 lakh acres in the districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and Cuddalore. S Ramadoss, a farmer representative from Kilvelur in the district, said, “Desilting work has to start as early as the first week of April so that the released water reaches the tail end region as soon as the dam shutters are raised.”
While Minister for Agriculture MRK Panneerselvam in the budget speech announced Rs 5 crore towards desilting the ‘C’ and ‘D’ channels for a length of 1146 km in the upcoming year, an official in the agriculture engineering department that desilts the channels said it will commence work in April once orders are issued. We will coordinate with the PWD-WRD in desilting the channels, the official added.
The PWD-WRD desilts rivers and the ‘A’ and ‘B’ channels under their 'special desilting' scheme. A senior PWD-WRD official said, "Our work will begin soon after funds are allocated through the 'demand for grants' session in the assembly later this month.”
The rural development department, meanwhile, will desilt ‘E’, ‘F’ and ‘G’ channels under MGNREG scheme. Meanwhile, SR Tamil Selvan, another farmer representative, said, "The masonry works (such as fixing regulators and shutters in the channels) should start early to enable water distribution from rivers to channels and its flow from upstream channels to those downstream. Otherwise, the released water may end up in the sea."