Delta farmers in TN stress need for crisis management plan

: The federation of farmers' associations of Cauvery delta districts has urged the Tamil Nadu government to come up with a crisis management plan for effective use of water available for irrigation.

In a representation to the Chief Minister and other authorities, Arupathy Kalyanam, General Secretary of the Federation of Farmers Associations of Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Thanjavur districts said the Grand Anaicut now receives only about 9,000 cusecs,which is not adequate for the needs of Vennar,Grand Anaicut Canal and Lower Anaicut irrigation areas.

"The water level in Mettur now stands at about 43 TMC and we should adopt an extensive crisis management plan to make judicious use of the water till January 2017," he said.
 

Pumping irrigation schemes between Mettur and Grand Anaicut should be immediately stopped to ensure availability of water for the delta districts, he said.

Kalyanam also stressed the need to form a regulatory committee, comprising officials of Agriculture, PWD and Revenue departments and representatives of farmers from all delta districts to regulate water flow in a fair manner up to the tail-end without any discrimination.

Proper functioning of all tail-end regulators of 36 river systems in the delta must be ensured to save precious water being let into the sea, he said.

He suggested that government distribute seeds of short duration paddy varieties (110-120 days), which can withstand drought, waterlogging and are tolerant to submergence.

The government should erect Automatic Telemetric Rain Gauges in all revenue village to get accurate rainfall data every 15 minutes during the monsoon. This will help farmers take precautionary steps when floods are anticipated, he said.