Mettur not desilted at all: MDMK chief

In a statement, Vaiko said that the maximum capacity of Mettur Dam is 93.47 tmc, but as the dam was not desilted only 60 tmc of water could be stored and remaining water was released from the dam. “The dam was filled with sand, stones and bushes which prevented maximum storage of water,” said Vaiko.

He also said that when 1.75 lakh cuses of water was flowing via Mukkombu and Kallanai dams the tail-end areas of Cauvery River in Nagapattinam and Thanjavur districts did not receive water for irrigation as the channels and canals were not desilted. “In Tiruvarur district, out of 4,200 ponds only 50 percentage of the ponds were filled and out of 16 lakes not even one of them was filled completely. In Pudukkottai district, farming is undertaken in more than 25,000 acres but the farmers did not receive sufficient water,” added Vaiko.

On the contrary, 1.5 lakh cusecs is discharged into the sea via Veeranam Lake. The maximum capacity of Veeranam Lake is just 47.5 feet and as the lake was not desilted to  store enough water and so most of the inflow is directed to the sea, he said.