Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Deficient rainfall, low storage in tanks leave farmers worried

TIRUCHI: Farmers in the Tiruchi region are keeping their fingers crossed over the prospects of the samba paddy crop as the monsoon continues to play truant.

With the storage at the Mettur reservoir and the irrigation tanks in the region being none too healthy, farmers are worried that the samba crop could starve of water unless the monsoon turns active. Samba paddy has been raised in about 50,000 hectares in Tiruchi district of the 3.79 lakh hectares covered in the Cauvery delta region. Agriculture Department officials expect the coverage to reach 65,000 hectares.

It has been a deficit year so far for the district under the North East monsoon. According to the website of the Chennai Regional Meteorological Centre, Tiruchi district has received 179.6 mm of rainfall since October 1 (till November 19) against the normal of 259.8 mm, a deviation of -31 per cent.

Storage in the system tanks across the region has not been encouraging. Sixty-seven out of the total 187 tanks under the control of the River Conservation Division of the Public Works Department of Tiruchi region comprising Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Perambalur, and Karur districts had less than 50 per cent storage of their capacities. The storage in 70 other tanks ranged between 50 to 75 per cent, while 37 others had about 75 per cent storage. Only 13 tanks were full.

Nearly 50 per cent of the 112 non-system tanks under the control Ariyar Division were empty. Only tanks in the Thuraiyur area and some in Manapparai had moderate to good storage, sources said.

The absence of rains has been cause for concern for farmers in the rainfed areas. “The (ground) water table has already gone down badly. Farmers could face heavy losses, if the dry spell continued,” said R. Raja Chidambaram, Secretary, Tamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam.

Even in the channel-irrigated areas, farmers have already started complaining of shortage of water in some of the tail end areas. “There are already problems in places such as Pullampadi. Wells have dried and most tanks are empty. We could be trouble in about 20 days, unless the monsoon turned good or there was a substantial increase in the inflow into the Mettur reservoir,” observed P. Ayyakannu, Secretary, Bharathiya Kisan Sangh.

Farmers organisations maintain it was time that the State government pressed Karnataka to release Tamil Nadu’s share of water in the Cauvery. R. Subramanian, Deputy Secretary, District Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association, said the Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi should hold talks with his Karnataka counterpart to get water in the Cauvery. The State government should also take up the issue with the Centre and seek a directive to Karnataka to release water, said Mr. Ayyakannu.

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