THANJAVUR: Amid demands for urgent release of River Cauvery water for irrigation following the significant rise in inflow into the Mettur dam over the past 10 days, several farmers in the delta region and experts say it would be prudent to defer any plans of opening the reservoir’s sluices till the third week of August to ensure a successful samba paddy cultivation season.
While Karnataka refused to abide by the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s (CWRC) directive to release 1 tmcft of water daily from July 12 to July 31, the recent heavy monsoon rains in the river’s catchment areas led the Kabini dam in the state to become full. Following this, the water release from the reservoir was stepped up, which, in turn, led to increased inflow into the Mettur dam from July 16.
The inflow to the dam, which was then 20,910 cusecs, rose progressively to 79,682 cusecs on July 23. It, however, tapered from then on and stood at 33,040 cusecs as on Thursday morning when the dam level stood at 89.31 feet (52 tmcft).
Although a section of farmers citing this clamour for urgent opening of the Mettur dam’s sluices for irrigation, several others and experts say a cautious approach is needed.
“The government should not rush to release water. Water needs to be released only when the storage reaches 90 tmcft. Then only can we successfully cultivate samba paddy,” said P Sukumaran, a farmer from Tiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur.
KA Koothalingam, a farmer from Pallathur near Pattukkottai, said, “Though the increased inflow has provided a glimmer of hope for raising long-term samba paddy, the situation needs to be monitored carefully before deciding on opening Mettur dam, as the water now available might not be sufficient to finish seasonal cultivation.”
Pointing out that farmers would start cultivating samba paddy only in August, Sami Natarajan, the state secretary of the TN farmers’ association, reasoned that it would hence be wise to open the Mettur dam in the third week of that month so that the available water can be put to efficient use.
P Kalaivanan, a member of the Senior Agro Technologists Forum, which comprises senior retired agricultural officers and scientists, pointed out that the dam storage was only 50 tmcft as against 185 tmcft that is required for samba paddy cultivation. Hence it would be prudent to release water from Mettur from August 15, unless it started overflowing before it, he said. It may be noted the samba paddy cultivation normally is taken up on about 3.75 lakh hectares in the entire Cauvery delta region.