SALEM: The Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami released water from Mettur dam for delta irrigation on Tuesday morning.
Due to heavy rain poured in catchment areas, dams in Karnataka are attained its full capacity. Following this, they released water to Tamil Nadu.
Due to this, Mettur dam started to receive more water from Friday and within five days the Mettur dam reached 100ft mark on the wee hours of Tuesday.
In a function at Mettur dam held on Tuesday morning, the Chief Minister released water from the Mettur dam along with Ministers Sengottaiyan, Vijayabaskar and Anbalagan for delta irrigation.
Initially, 3,000 cusecs water released from the dam.
Speaking at the function, the Chief Minister listed out the schemes implemented by the government to farmers and steps taken to desilt water bodies to harvest every drop of rainwater.
The Chief Minister said that initially 3,000 cusecs water was released from the dam and based on the requirement the water release will be increased to 10,000 cusecs.
Due to the release of water from the dam, 16.05 lakh acres of farmlands in Salem, Namakkal, Erode, Karur, Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Pudhukottai and Cuddalore districts will be benefited.
From Tuesday, water will be released for canal irrigation from Mettur dam.
For next 137 days, 1,000 cusecs water will be released through East and West Bank Canals. Through this, 45,000 acres of lands in Salem, Namakkal and Erode Districts will be benefited.
For this 9.65 TMC water is required. To save every drop of rainwater our government decided to construct five barrages from Salem to Kollidam. Works started for constructing one barrage and order issued to construct another.
For the remaining three barrages, detailed project report preparing works is going on. I urge farmers to use water efficiently and economically, the Chief Minister added.