THANJAVUR: With the Mettur dam reaching its full reservoir level (FRL) of 120 feet (93.47 tmc ft) on Tuesday night–a third for the current irrigation year–farmers in Thanjavur district want the quantum of River Cauvery release for irrigation of standing samba paddy to be stepped up immediately. Since the river water was first released for the current irrigation year on July 28 for facilitating irrigation in the Cauvery delta districts, the Mettur dam reached FRL on July 30 and August 12.
Following heavy rains during the northeast monsoon, the popular demand in the delta districts plummeted following which the inflow into Mettur was conserved, resulting in the dam touching 120 feet for the third time on Tuesday night. The dam level remained the same on Wednesday morning, with the inflow at 1,791 cusecs and the outflow at 669 cusecs. The water release for delta remained at 500 cusecs. From Kallanai only 100 cusecs each was being released into Rivers Cauvery, Vennaru and GA Canal.
Against this backdrop, G Srinivasan, a farmer from Ganapathi Agraharam in the district, said that the samba paddy in the locality is in flowering stage. “Hence 10,000 cusecs of water needs to be released immediately from the Mettur dam for at least ten days,” he said.
Attributing the recent rains for other delta districts like Tiruvarur not needing supply currently, Srinivasan said the Cauvery water released could be used in entirety for supply in all the rivers flowing through Thanjavur. S Sivakumar, a farmer from Manathidal, echoed the demand. When contacted, WRD officials told TNIE that the demand of the farmers has been under consideration and added a decision will be taken soon.