Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Monsoon brings relief to Delta farmers

CHENNAI: The north-east monsoon has brought relief to Delta farmers. Until now the demand for water for samba crop in the delta districts was being met from the Stanley reservoir whose storage was fast depleting.

Due to widespread rain in the districts, the Public Works Department on Friday reduced the discharge from the reservoir from 25,000 cusecs to 1000 cusecs. This will be reduced further and, ultimately, the reservoir closed, if the rain continues for another week, according to a PWD official.

The present storage of 37.5 thousand million cubic (tmc) feet with an inflow of about 6,500 cusecs has to be sustained till December 15 as the standing paddy requires water for about 45 days before harvest — December 15 to January 30.

Though Karnataka has to supply 30.7 tmcft of water in October and another 16.05 tmcft in November as per the interim order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, Tamil Nadu cannot depend on this as the neighbouring State has never conformed to the interim order.

The official said the present quantum of rain was sufficient to meet the demand of standing crops for about 20 days. The department hopes that the monsoon would be normal and help would delta farmers reap normal harvest.

Transplantation of samba crop was over in 90 per cent of the areas and the balance would be covered in another week. In the current season, about 4.75 lakh hectare would be covered under samba and late samba as against the normal coverage of 4.5 lakh hectare. As the rain had come at the right time, there would not be any problem in ensuring water for the standing crop.

Secretary of the Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association S. Ranganathan told The Hindu that the present rain would help build up storage at the Stanley reservoir, which could be utilised during the last phase of the crop.

He regretted that due to poor drainage facilities, crops in some parts of Nagapattinam and Vedaranyam lay submerged.

At present there were only two or three drainage channels, which were insufficient to drain the rainwater from fields.

The State government, as part of the Cauvery modernisation scheme, should provide more drainage channels to prevent crops from submerging.

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