Sathanur dam to be opened for 90 days in staggered manner to feed 38,000 acres

The old Tirukoilur ayacut would get water for 17 days under the staggered system from March 9 to 24, officials said.

The dam located in Thandarampattu taluk, 35 km from Tiruvannamalai had reached 111 feet against its FTL (full tank level) of 119 feet. Based on requests from farmers, officials said water was released from Thursday evening to meet the needs of 38,000 acres in Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram and Kallakurichi districts, officials said. Under the staggered system, water would first be released initially for 35 days after which the shutters would be closed for five days. Then water would be released for another 20 days and again closed for 5 days. In the last leg, water would be released for 25 days and then the shutters would be fully downed.

Meanwhile, residents of Tharadapattu, Veeranam, Sathanur and Kil Vanakampadi staged an agitation and impounded buses as government officials used earthmovers to close channels which the villagers had dug to supply water from the dam to irrigation tanks in their areas.

When police and revenue officials arrived at the spot, villagers complained that they were forced to dig the channel themselves as there was no official action on their repeated request to provide a channel to their villages which were dry despite being close to the dam.

Officials advised the villagers to present a petition to Collector Sandeep Nanduri in person to execute their request. Following this, people lifted the blockade.