Mettur to release wate on scheduled date

Salem, June 11 (UNI) Farmers in the Cauvery delta areas of Tamil Nadu are in a buoyant mood as the water from the Mettur Dam will be released for Kuruvai cultivation as per schedule tomorrow.

PWD sources told UNI here today this was for the first time since 2001 the water would be released on the scheduled date of June 12, to enable the farmers take up Kuruvai cultivation in 4.5 lakh hectares of land in the delta districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam.

Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S Armuguham would formally open the sluice gates to signal the release of water. The released water would reach Grand Anaicut in Thanjavur on June 15.

Considering the favourable storage level in the dam, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had announced in the State Assembly, the water would be released as scheduled on June 12. A mention to this effect was also made in Governor S S Barnala's address to State Assembly on May 24.

The sources said this was for the 14th time the water would be released for Kuruvai cultivation on the scheduled date.

Earlier, the water was released as scheduled on June 12 in 1934, 1935, 1939, 1965, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2000 and 2001.

This was for the first time in the 72-year-old history of the Mettur Dam that the water level in the dam stood above the 110-mark for a record 313 days, as on date.

''The water level in the Dam today stood at 115.24 ft. This level of water had never existed before at the time of opening the dam (on June 12) for Kuruvai cultivation'', the sources added.

''For the first time in the history, the dam is being opened with a water level of 115 ft. The previous best in terms of storage level was wayback in 1947, when the dam level stood at 107 ft when it was opened for Kuruvai cultivation, but not on scheduled date'', the sources said.

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