TIRUCHY: Farmers from Karur besieged the Collectorate on Friday, complaining that the water released into the Amaravathi river failed to reach its tail-end region and demanded an increase in the quantum of release.
According to the farmers, the water released from the Amaravathi dam located at Udumalaipettai in Tirupur district is the main source of water for drinking and irrigation in districts like Tirupur and Karur.
Since there was no adequate water released from the dam, it failed to reach Karur and its tail-end parts for the past several months, and so the Amaravathi Ayacutdars could not concentrate on cultivation of crops. There is an acute water shortage even for drinking purposes for the people and the cattle.
Against such a backdrop, the farmers from Karur appealed to the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court to release adequate water from the Amaravathi dam to Karur, and so the court directed the Water Resources Department to release 1,000 cusecs of water to Karur.
Subsequently, the state government directed the officials to release 1,000 cusecs of water from August 31 to September 7. Since the riverbed was parched due to scarcity of water, the release of 1,000 cusecs would fail to reach the tail-end part of the district, and so the farmers from the district demanded the release of between 2,000 and 3,000 cusecs.
They also staged a protest at Chinna Dharapuram along the Karur and Tirupur border, and the officials who held talks assured to increase the quantum of water, but it was not practised.
Meanwhile, the water released from Amaravathi reached Andankovil check dam on September 7, but it failed to reach the tail-end parts like Koyampalli, Tirumanilaiyur and Tirumukkoodalur till Thursday.
Subsequently, the irate farmers who benefited from Amaravathi irrigation, belonging to Sanapiratti, S Vellalapatti, Melapalayam, Kunnanur, Emur Puthur and Puliyur converged in front of the Karur Collectorate on Friday and attempted to besiege the office.
On receiving information, Collector C Muthukumaran held talks with the farmers. The Collector told the farmers that he had requested the Tirupur Collector to step up the release of water for the benefit of Karur farmers based on the water availability. The Collector also assured them of getting water at the earliest.
However, the farmers who temporarily withdrew the protest decided to intensify it if Amaravati water failed to reach the tail-end parts within a week.