ERODE: Farmers have appealed to the water resources department not to reduce the volume of water released from the Bhavanisagar dam for Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) canal for irrigation.
On Sunday, the the dam received inflow of 17 cusecs and water level stood at 68.68 feet against full reservoir level of 105 feet. Around 2,300 cusecs of water was being discharged into the canal and 900 cusecs released for other irrigation systems.
They have also urged the WRD to provide water to irrigation as per the G.O. M Ravi, Organiser of Lower Bhavani Irrigation Conservation Movement, said, “Summer has started and water demand to irrigate farmlands has increased. We have learned that the WRD is planning to reduce the volume of water being released for LBP irrigation system citing dwindling storage level in the damAt per GO 11, around 11.5 tmcft of water should be released from the dam from January till May in five intervals to irrigate over one lakh acres of farm land. We request officials to adhere to the GO. If level in Lower Bhavani Dam reduces, water should be drawn from dams in Nilgiris district.”
S Periyasamy, president of Lower Bhavani ayacut land owners association, said, “Sesame, Groundnut and Maize have been cultivated in areas under LBP irrigation system. Sesame harvest season is about to begin. Water should be provided to protect the crops as per the GO”
C Eswaramoorthy, secretary of Lower Bhavani farmers federation, said, “The dam currently has 10 tmcft of water. Of this 2 tmcft is for drinking water requirement and 1.5 tmcft is dead storage. The remaining 6.5 tmcft should be relased for LBP irrigation. Only 4.7 tmcft of water has been provided since January till now. Totally 11.5 tmcft should be provided as per the G.O.”
A senior officer in WRD (Coimbatore region) said, “We can deal with irrigation and drinking water requirements with the current water level in the dam. We expect summer rain in catchment areas to begin in a week, and it will help a bit. We will give water required by farmers as per norms.”