The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : No gamble with Mettur water release

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 01, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

No gamble with Mettur water release

By S. Vydhianathan

CHENNAI, JULY 31. Despite the demand from political parties and farmers, the Government is not ready to take the ``risk of opening the Mettur reservoir now and repent later.''

The storage of 34.90 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft), as against the capacity of 93.4 tmcft, is not sufficient for kuruvai cultivation.

Today's inflow was 8,707 cusecs and the discharge 6,045 cusecs, according to official sources. For cultivation at least 12,000 cusecs will have to be discharged a day. But with the current storage, supply at this rate would be possible only for 20 days.

Thereafter, the State will have to depend on Karnataka or the Centre. So the State wants to build a storage of at least 45 tmcft and then think of opening the reservoir. By that time monsoon will also set in, they hope.

The sources said the State wanted to ensure water supply at least for one crop.

Referring to the release of about 6,000 cusecs for Adi Perukku, they said it would help to recharge ground water in the delta districts and in turn help farmers who had already raised the kuruvai crop with borewells.

Inflow picks up

Thanks to heavy rain in the catchment areas of the Kabini dam in Karnataka, the Mettur reservoir started getting good inflow again. As the Kabini dam reached its capacity of 19.5 tmcft, Karnataka was discharging about 12,000 cusecs against an inflow of 13,400 cusecs. But no water was released from Krishnaraja Sagar in the current irrigation year though the storage was 27 tmcft against its capacity of 49.45 tmcft, the sources said.

Farmers' appeal

The Tamil Nadu Vivasaigal Sangam today urged the Government to open the reservoir for Kuruvai cultivation. Its general secretary, V. Duraimanickam, in a statement here, said that under the present circumstances it would be prudent to continue with water release.

He also wanted the Government to get the State's due share of Cauvery water from Karnataka. The Centre should on its part convene the Cauvery River Authority.

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