Chennai: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami today announced opening of the sluice gates of Mettur Dam on 12 June to enable farmers in Cauvery delta districts to take up Kuruvai paddy crop cultivation.

The decision to open the dam for irrigation was taken after reviewing the present storage level in the dam with the officials of the State government.

In a statement after the review meeting, Palaniswami said the present storage level in the dam was 100.01 ft as against the total capacity of 120 ft and the storage level was 64.85 tmcft.

Observing that this storage level would be suffice to release water from the dam for irrigation for 50 days and the met office forecasting southwest monsoon to commence at the right time, he said by taking into account the interests of the farmers in Cauvery delta districts and based on the requests received from them, it has been decided to open the dam for irrigation at 10 am on 12 June.

He also announced a slew of measures to enable the farmers to use the water judiciously and in turn gain more yield. This included uninterrupted three
phase power supply for 12 hours in delta areas.

He also directed the Collectors of delta districts to desilt the irrigation canals under MGNREGA and through PWD, ensure adequate stock of kuruvai paddy seeds for distribution to farmers, besides fertilisers and urea, while maintaining social distancing during cultivation in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

He also announced provision of necessary interest-free crop loans through the Primary Agricutural Cooperative institutions for the farmers to take up kuruvai crop cultivation works.

He said last year the crop yield from delta districts was 4.99 lakh metric tonnes from 2.90 lakh cultivated acre and this year it was expected to increase to 5.60 lakh metric tonnes by cultivating paddy in about 3.25 lakh acres.

He said the State government has fixed a paddy procurement target of 28 lakh metric tonnes and so far 22.81 lakh metric tonnes was directly procured from the farmers so far.

‘The government will create history by procuring the balance amount of paddy’,
Palaniswami added.

Stating that Tamilnadu has bagged the Centre’s Krishi Karman award for five
times in foodgrain production by adopting modern irrigation techniques despite
inadequate water, the Chief Minister said since the mettur dam was being opened
at the requisitie time for kuruvai crop cultivation, this year also the State
would create a new record in food grain production.