K Palaniswami announces Rs 115-cr package for farmers, says no water will be released from Mettur Dam for 'kuruvai' cultivation

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Friday expressed its inability to release water from the Mettur dam for the ‘kuruvai’ (short-term) paddy cultivation in the delta districts of the state, but announced a Rs 115 crore package to help farmers take up cultivation using available water resources. [caption id=“attachment_4124361” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Tamil Nadu chief minister E Palaniswami. PTI[/caption] Chief Minister K Palaniswami’s announcement in the state Assembly that the sluice gates of the dam would not be opened on 12 June according to schedule due to low storage, did not cut ice with the opposition parties. Leader of Opposition M K Stalin, who had earlier demanded that the government should release water on 12 June, criticised the chief minister’s statement on the inability to open the sluice gate of Mettur dam as per schedule and led a walkout of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) members. The DMK’s allies, Congress and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) later walked out of the House on the same issue. The chief minister announced a number of measures including subsidies on seeds and on farm equipment, and other initiatives to enable farmers take up ‘kuruvai’ cultivation in around three lakh acres, even as he said it was not possible to release water from Mettur Dam as the storage was just around 39 feet. He said water could be released only when the storage touched 90 feet.