Open Mettur dam on June 12 for kuruvai, says expert panel

The committee, headed by senior technocrats, P Kalaivanan, P Venkatesan, V Palaniappan and V Kaliyamurthy, in a joint statement, recommended the state government that water can be released from Mettur on Jun12 for kuruvai cultivation in 2020-21. At the same time, the committee recommended that the cultivation should not depend on the dam alone which would result in water shortage in many districts. However, the farmers are advised to depend on groundwater and monsoon too to use the dam water economically.

Meanwhile, the committee asked the farmers to undertake initial works like planting prior to the release of water from Mettur while the tail end farmers can use the South West monsoon during the samba season to plant the seeds.

At the same time, the committee urged the state government to make an announcement before May 15 about the release of water so that the farmers can get ready for the cultivation and the desilt works for the water bodies should be completed on time with proper allocation of funds and the MGNREGS beneficiaries can be utilised for the desilting works.

In the meantime, the committee urged the farmers to ensure planting of nurseries in the third week of May through the support of ground water and other sources of water before the water from Mettur reaches the Delta.