Even as farmers and people of the Cauvery region have urged the State government to open the Mettur dam for Aadi perukku festival, which falls on Thursday, the Public Works Department officials have virtually ruled out possibilities of opening the dam in view of poor storage.
When similar demands were made last year, former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa ordered the release of 6,000 cusecs between July 25 and July 31 so as to enable the people of Delta districts to celebrate the Aadi perukku festival. In addition to it, 2000 cusecs of water was released in the same period for drinking water purpose.
However, PWD officials said that chances were remote for the opening of the Mettur dam for Aadi perukku this year considering poor storage. Till a few days ago, when the ryots had raised the demand for water ahead of Aadi perukku, the storage level stood at just 5 TMC. The storage, even now, was far from satisfactory. As on Monday, the dam had about 9.5 TMC and the inflow was also not on the expected lines.
While respecting the sentiments of the people of the Delta region, who were expecting that the State government would release at least a small quantum of water for the festival, a senior PWD official told The Hindu that the current water position in the Mettur dam was a matter of concern. The poor storage had brought down the interest of opening the dam for Aadi perukku. Even if the dam was opened today the water would not reach Tiruchi or Thanjavur before the festival day, as it would take at least two-and-a-half- days for the water to reach Tiruchi.
However, he said there were chances for opening the Mettur dam for drinking water purpose in the near future. A favourable decision would be taken shortly if the inflow into the dam was satisfactory.
Goundampatti R. Subramanian, deputy secretary of the Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association, said that the government should order the release of at least 5,000 cusecs from the Mettur dam immediately. There has been acute scarcity of water in the Delta districts since January. If not for Aadi perukku, water should be released immediately at least for recharging the groundwater along the Cauvery water course to meet the drinking water demands.