Mettur dam gates not opened on June 12 for the first time in five years

Chennai: For the first time since 2020, the sluices of the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur was not reopened on the designated date of June 12 for cultivation of kuruvai (short-term crop) in the Cauvery Delta region due to non-availability of water.

The non-release of water has caused concern among farmers in the fertile Cauvery Delta, rice bowl of Tamil Nadu, as they are worried about losing the crop for the second time in a row.

Last year too, a majority of the farmers either lost the short-term crop or spent additional financial resources to save kuruvai due to non-availability of adequate water in the reservoir, which is their lifeline.

The dam, built in 1934 during the British regime, is usually opened on June 12 for cultivation of kuruvai but it has missed the deadline many times in the past.

It was opened on June 12 in 2020 and 2021 and the DMK government in 2022 advanced the release of water to May 24 as there was enough water in the dam. In 2023, the dam was opened on June 12.

However, the dam has missed the designated date of water release for the first time in five years. At 1 pm on Wednesday, water level stood at 43.52 feet and the storage was 13.975 tmcft, while the inflow was 404 cusecs and outflow was 1,500 cusecs.

Tamil Nadu says it could not release water from Mettur dam as Karnataka hasn’t adhered to the monthly schedule of release of water to the state. Apart from the 90 tmcft due in 2023, Karnataka hasn’t released 24 tmcft water due in June 2024.

Upset over the government’s move, hundreds of farmers marched from the Cauvery Delta region to Mettur Dam on Wednesday demanding exerting pressure on Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu.

“We want water for kuruvai. Without Cauvery water, we can’t cultivate kuruvai and without harvesting kuruvai, we can’t prepare for samba. The money that we earn from kuruvai is used for rotation purposes,” P R Pandian, Convenor, Coordination Committee of All Farmers Associations of Tamil Nadu, told DH.

Only farmers who depend on borewell for irrigation have begun cultivating kuruvai as they are confident of a rich harvest due to recharge of groundwater, thanks to the summer rains. Pandian said if water isn’t released on time, it will be the second successive year that kuruvai will almost be a failure.

Though the dam was opened on June 12 in 2023, but the quantum of water released from the dam – whose inflow went to a record low after Karnataka failed to adhere to the monthly schedule of water release due to “less rains” in the Cauvery basin -- kept reducing gradually, leading to a major crisis in the Delta, Tamil Nadu’s rice bowl.

The dam, from where water is discharged usually till December, was closed on October 9, adding to the woes of the farmers. Kuruvai is cultivated in an area of 5 lakh acres of which over 3 lakh acres are entirely dependent on Cauvery while cultivation in the remaining 2 lakh acres are done using water from borewells.