Kuruvai farmers in TN's delta districts under risk as Mettur dam water level falls

Chennai, July 10  The Kuruvai farmers of delta districts in Tamil Nadu are under risk as the water level in Mettur dam that supplies water to the districts have fallen down.

Farmers are into Kuruvai cultivation in an area of 3.60 lakh acres and are dependent purely on water from Mettur dam.

Manikandan, a Kuruvai farmer while speaking to IANS said, "When the Mettur water was released on the customary date of June 12 by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, farmers were happy. However, now we are worried as the water table in Mettur dam has come down."

According to farmers, 100 TMC water is required for a successful Kuruvai farming and the farmers are worried as at present the current storage level in Mettur dam is only 46 TMC.

Agriculture experts also said that there is a definite shortage of 56 TMC of water and the farmers are expecting a timely arrival of monsoon to help tide over the crisis.

Farmers in Tamil Nadu however pointed out that the Karnataka government has to release the monthly share of water to Tamil Nadu from the Mettur dam. As per agriculture experts, Karnataka as per agreement has to provide 167 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu.

Muralidhara Perumal, a farmer in Thanjavur district, told IANS that the Tamil Nadu government must take up the issue with the Karnataka government. He said that as per the Supreme Court directive, Karnataka has to release 9.19 TMC for the month of June and 31.24 TMC for the month of July. However, according to Perumal, the neighbouring state has not released the required water creating big difficulties for the farmers of Tamil Nadu.