Amaravathi dam opened for cultivation in 51,903 acres

Animal Husbandry Minister ‘Udumalai’ K Radhakrishnan officially released the water in the presence of District Collector K Vijayakarthikeyan following a recent order from Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. Water would be released in a phased manner over a period of 135 days till February 2, 2021.

Farmers were demanding the release of water to facilitate irrigation in old and new ayacut areas. Of the total 51,903 acres, officials said that 26,653 acres in the old ayacut of Tirupur and Karur districts and 25,250 acres in the new ayacut of Tirupur were to be irrigated with the release of water.

Water not exceeding 6,048 mcft has been released into 16 irrigation channels for old ayacut and water not exceeding 2,661 mcft has been released for the new ayacut. After releasing the water, the Minister appealed to farmers to use the water judiciously.

Meanwhile, a flood alert has been issued to villages along the banks of flooded Bhavani river as the Pillur dam in Mettupalayam near Coimbatore has reached its brim following heavy rains in the Nilgiris and Coimbatore.

The dam, which has reached 97 feet as against its full reservoir capacity of 100 feet, is realizing an inflow of 10,000 cusecs on Sunday morning. Therefore about 7,000 cusecs of water has been released through the four sluices of the dam leading to flooding in Bhavani River.

The discharge from the dam is likely to increase further with an expected surge in inflow as rains continue unabated in the catchment areas.

Coimbatore District Collector K Rajamani issued an order urging people living in low lying areas such as Thekkampatty, Nellithurai, Mettupalayam, Alangombu and Sirumugai to move to safer region and warned people against getting into the river to wash clothes or catch fish.