Ryots seek more water to save samba, thalady
The farmers have demanded two rounds of water release to save the standing crops with the first round to be maintained till February 15.
Paddy withering in tail-end regions of Delta due to water scarcity
TIRUCHY: Since the samba and thalady crops are in ripening stage, water availability is crucial at this stage.
The farmers have demanded two rounds of water release to save the standing crops with the first round to be maintained till February 15. However, due to a shortage in storage at Mettur reservoir, the water that was released on February 3 was stopped on February 10 even though the water could not reach many parts of the Delta. Hence the farmers have appealed to the government to release the second round of water immediately.
The water released from Mettur was stopped initially by October 10 and so the farmers who were planning for samba cultivation by river irrigation were skeptical. Few of them had commenced cultivation with the hope of on-time monsoon rainfall with the acreage of samba and thalady being limited to 10 lakh acres against the usual 13.50 lakh acre.
However, the monsoon rainfall was inadequate due to which the water level in the local water bodies had declined gradually resulting in the drying of the crops.
“The crops are in the ripening stage and water is very essential at this stage. Since there is no water availability, the crops in Thanjavur, Pattukkottai, Peravurani, Needamangalam, Tiruvarur, Tiruthuraipoondi, Muthupettai, Kizhvelur, Keezhaiyur and Thalainayar have started withering. We demanded water till February 15 but the water release was stopped from February 10 evening leading the farmers at risk,” said Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam General Secretary Sami Natarajan.
He said that the farmers demanded an average discharge of 6,000 cusecs a day but there was a discharge of water of 6,000 cusecs at the initial level and that was reduced to 5,600 and 4,600 cusecs on Saturday and the water had not reached the tail end regions. Hence the release of water has not helped the farmers. The second round of water release should be undertaken immediately,” he said.
However, the Water Resources Department (WRD) officials on Saturday said that a total of 3.4 TMC water has been released from Mettur from February 3 to 10. If there is further water release, there would be scarcity for drinking water purposes. But Sami Natarajan said that the drinking water source would not be affected even if 10 feet level water were released for irrigation purposes.