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Friday, Jun 13, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Water released from Stanley reservoir

Special Correspondent

Will irrigate 16.05 lakh acres in 11 districts

METTUR: Water from the massive Stanley Reservoir was released here on Thursday for irrigation.

Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam, signalling the opening of the dam, showered flowers from atop the reservoir on the gushing water.

Initially, 5000 cusecs was released.

The discharge would be stepped up in the night in staggering spells of 8000, 10,000 and 12,000 cusecs at the stroke of midnight. The water will irrigate 16.05 lakh acres of land in 11 districts.

The Minister told the media after the release of water that the government had enough stock of fertilizer, including DAP.

“We request farmers to concentrate on the crop and yield. The government will support them totally,” he reiterated, allaying their fears about fertilizer shortage.

Though Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were facing shortage, Tamil Nadu was the only State that had taken the timely decision to import the fertilizer from abroad and other States to overcome the shortage, he said.

It was a moment of joy for the farmers as the water was released on the customary opening date of June 12. The reservoir was opened on July 18 last year.

At the time of opening of the dam, the water level stood at 103.31 feet with storage of 69.199 tmcft. Inflow was at 2912 cusecs.

The dam’s hydraulic details point out that the reservoir was opened 50 times after June 12 and 20 times before the scheduled date.

The dam had also surplussed 35 times. It received a staggering inflow of 2.41 lakh cusecs on a single day in October 2006 for the first time since 1961 (3.01 lakh cusecs) and discharged 2.31 lakh cusecs the same day.

Apart from the irrigation needs, the dam will also contribute to the tune of 250 MW of hydro power through its two power houses and an additional 120 MW from its five barrages downstream.

PWD officials are optimistic that the reservoir would receive copious flows during the south west monsoon. Mettur MLA and PMK leader G. K. Mani, District Revenue Officer M. Rajarathinam, Chief Engineer (PWD) A. Nagarajan, Senior Engineer (PWD) R. Subramanian and other officials participated. The water is expected to reach the Delta after June 16.

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