The Tamil Nadu Government has sanctioned Rs 125 crore as special assistance to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board to purchase electricity from the open market to power irrigation pump sets, according to an official press release.
Following farmers' demands for 12 hours of three-phase electricity supply to power irrigation pump sets for raising summer crop of paddy, the Chief Minister announced the financial support to enable the utility buy power. This will support the ‘Kuruvai' paddy cultivation, the short term, summer crop in the Cauvery Delta regions.
To enable paddy cultivation from June 17, three-phase power supply will be available 12 hours a day, including eight hours in the day and four hours in the night. Farmers now get nine hours of electricity supply with six hours in the day and rest at night.
The State Government has also decided to release the Rs 2,000 crore balance subsidy compensation to the utility which is going through a financial crunch. The release said there are over 80,000 irrigation pumpsets in the Cauvery Delta areas spread across Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam and parts of Tiruchi and Cuddalore districts. If adequate power supply is enabled, farmers will be able to raise paddy over 1.5 lakh acres.
This will be less than half the ‘Kuruvai' area raised last year when rice production touched a record 75.96 lakh tonnes in the State — an increase of over 31 per cent over that of the output in 2010-11 when it was 57.92 lakh tonnes.
The release of irrigation water from the Mettur Dam on June 6, 2011, contributed to the higher output as it supported over 3.45 lakh acres of ‘Kuruvai' season paddy in the Cauvery Delta.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the neighbouring State of Karnataka, the upper riparian State, has not released adequate water from its dams this season. This in turn hit the water availability at Mettur Dam.
Water sharing dispute
Referring to the Cauvery water sharing dispute between the two States, the Chief Minister said the neighbour neither follows the dictates of the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, nor its interim order.
Under the interim order, Karnataka should have supplied 10.16 thousand million cubic feet of water in June but Tamil Nadu is yet to get a drop of water, she said in the press release. There is just 41.11 tmcft of water at Mettur and this is not enough for release for the summer crop.
The final order is yet to be notified in the gazette by the Central Government. Tamil Nadu has repeatedly sought the notification, she said.