Tamil Nadu govt rules out opening Mettur Dam for farmers along Cauvery delta, announces agricultural subsidies instead

Chennai: Citing poor storage, the Tamil Nadu government, on Friday ruled out opening the sluice gates of Mettur Dam on 12 June for ‘kuruvai’ (short-term) paddy crop in the Cauvery delta, but announced a Rs 115 crore package to help farmers take up cultivation using available water resources. The dam, built across the Cauvery river which is the lifeline of farmers in delta districts in the state, is opened on 12 June annually for irrigating the short-term crop, but the traditional date had been missed on several occasions in the past too due to inadequate storage. Chief Minister K Palaniswami, in a statement in the Assembly, said the sluice gates of the dam in Salem district would not be opened on 12 June due to low storage and blamed Karnataka for not releasing Cauvery water in 2017, resulting in the lower realisation of water. He said against the dam’s maximum level of 120 feet, the water level in the reservoir presently stood at 39.42 feet and it can be opened only if the water level reached 90 feet. “There is a situation where it is not possible to release water for kuruvai crop with this storage level as per schedule on 12 June,” the chief minister said. [caption id=“attachment_4295865” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswamy. PTI[/caption] He then announced the package for farmers, which included subsidies on seeds and farm equipment and other initiatives to enable farmers take up ‘kuruvai’ cultivation in around three lakh acres of land. However, this did not cut ice with the opposition parties which walked out of the assembly. Leader of the Opposition MK Stalin of DMK criticised the chief minister’s statement on inability to open the Mettur dam according to schedule and then led a walkout of his party legislators. Stalin had been demanding release of water from the dam on 12 June. DMK’s allies, the Congress and IUML later staged a walk-out on the issue. Earlier, Palaniswami said water could not be released from the dam on 12 June for the last six years due to storage issue and recalled that chief minister J Jayalalithaa had announced similar packages. Palaniswami also said that he himself had announced a Rs 56 crore package in 2017. The riots in the delta districts have, however, ensured good harvest between 2012 and 2016, producing five lakh tonnes of paddy in 2016, he said. Underlining the ‘Amma (Jayalalithaa) government’s’ commitment on the Cauvery issue, he referred to the Centre recently constituting the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CMA) to address the water-sharing dispute among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. While Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry have nominated their members to the CMA, “it has come to be known” that Karnataka was yet to do so, Palaniswami said. The chief minister also said that AIADMK MPs led by Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai had met Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari on 6 June and handed over to him a letter by him seeking that the CMA be made operational immediately. Palaniswami listed out various instances during DMK’s rule when water could not be released from Mettur dam on 12 June, while trying to drive home the point that only the storage level determines the release. The Rs 115 crore package announced by him included supply of 12 hours of three-phase electricity to farmers, 90 percent subsidy for solar-powered pump sets and subsidy on diesel engines for farmers who have no power connection. The chief minister also proposed various proposals for farm labourers that would be covered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme.