The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Opening Mettur dam for kuruvai on June 12 remote

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 04, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Opening Mettur dam for kuruvai on June 12 remote

By R. Ilangovan

METTUR, JUNE 3. Despite a significant increase in the inflow, which has gone up from 919 cusecs to 9,964 cusecs in seven days, the chances of opening the Mettur dam, with dismal storage, on the customary date of June 12 for kuruvai cultivation in the Delta region remains `bleak.'

"If Karnataka fails to honour its obligation, the Thanjavur Delta farmers are sure to have yet another year of despair," said a farmers' representative.

PWD sources here said the four days of rain in the southern end of the foothills of Mysore enhanced the inflow close to 10,000 cusecs, which the dam had recorded for the first time since its closure in January this year. (The dam, however, was opened thrice for brief spells after January for drinking water purposes.)

But the level today stood at a meagre 34.57 feet (against the dam height of 120 feet) with a storage of 9.46 tmcft (93.50 tmcft).

Till last week the inflow was in trickles. But thanks to rain in its catchment areas, it slowly picked up. On May 27, it received 919 cusecs, but increased to 2,736 cusecs on May 31. It crossed 3,000 cusecs on June 1 and 9,964 today. "The inflow is directly from our catchment areas near Mysore and good rain in Palar near Kolathur. The Palar forest region registered 62 mm of rainfall during the past two days. Neither Krishnarajasagar nor the Kabini had released a drop," said a senior PWD official, who however cautioned that rain-triggered inflow could be "erratic and undependable."

For opening the dam, a storage of 45 tmcft was required. But today the storage was only 9.46 tmcft of which the dead storage is four tmcft, leaving a mere 5.46 tmcft for cultivation.

"Only a `rain-induced miracle' can increase the level in the dam," said the PWD official. They were unsure about the quantum of inflow in the days to come. And they also drew attention to the fact that for kuruvai cultivation alone about 90 tmcft of water was needed. For samba, thaladi and kuruvai together, the requirement would be around 240 tmcft.

With a storage of 35 tmcft, the dam was opened on October 7, 2003 while the kuruvai season was almost over. The Government ordered its opening with the fond hope of a good northeast monsoon. But it failed leaving the farmers and the water managers in the lurch. Poor storage forced the authorities to close the dam on January 5, instead of the usual date of January 28. The dam received the lowest inflow of 61 tmcft against last year's realisation of 94.86 tmcft.

The outflow of 150 cusecs is being maintained for drinking water purposes.

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