Jayalalithaa orders release of additional 3000 cusecs of water from Tamil Nadu's Mettur Dam

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalaithaa has ordered the release of an additional 3000 cusecs of water from Mettur Dam till August 2 for the Aadi Perukku Festival, which falls on August 3.

The water released from Krishnaraja Sagar and Kabini dams in Karnataka has reached Mettur Dam. The inflow into Mettur Dam almost doubled to 52,701 cusecs on Saturday due to heavy rain in catchment areas.

The water level in Mettur Dam has risen to 89.59 feet with 6800 cusecs of water is being released from the dam.

Jayalalithaa's decision comes four days after the Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association (CDFWA) had appealed to her to increase the outflow from Mettur Dam to 6,000 cusecs for at least 10 days so that water could be released in the 17 channels from Salem to Trichy.

At present, 3,000 cusecs are being released for the purpose of drinking water.

"Now that the water situation is satisfactory in Karnataka, an increase to 6,000 cusecs at least for 10 days would help the 17-channel area, and thus, save the horticulture plants cultivated over 1.25 lakh acres," Mahadanapuram Rajaram, the working president of the CDFWA, had said.

Rajaram said the water level in Cauvery basin has reached comfortable levels, the state government should step in and release water so that crops like banana, sugarcane, betel and coconut, which have been cultivated in areas such as Salem, Namakkal, Erode, Karur and Trichy, do not wither away.

At present, the inflow to Mettur is 32,680 cusecs and the outflow was maintained at 3000 cusecs. The dam on Monday had a total of 41.9 tmcft.

Rajaram contends that the next 10 days would be crucial for the horticulture crop and the government could well order to increase to the outflow to at least 6,000 cusecs and this would be a great boon to the farmers.