Grand Anicut gets a fresh of lick of paint ahead of water release

The Grand Anicut (Kallanai), the ancient water regulator from where water is distributed for irrigation in the core delta districts, is being spruced up ahead of its opening next month.

The Public Works Department has taken up the work to give a facelift to the anicut, built by the Chola King Karikalan. Apart from checking the operational readiness of the shutters, the PWD is also giving the structure a fresh coat of paint.

Water is set to be released for irrigation from the Stanley Reservoir at Mettur on the scheduled date of June 12 and farmers in the delta are gearing up for a full fledged kuruvai crop after a gap of eight years. A section of delta farmers have started preparing their fields and others having filter point facilities have started raising nurseries for ‘kuruvai’. Water is likely to be released from Grand Anicut on June 15 or 16 once the Mettur water reaches here.

Last year, the shutters were lifted in August instead of in June. It was in June 2011, the shutters of Grand Anicut were lifted a week before the normal date of opening of shutters to release water for irrigation from the Mettur dam.

The announcement about the date of water release from Mettur dam is likely to influence a large number of paddy cultivators in the core delta districts to go in for `kuruvai’ and `thaladi’ crop during this season as the present storage level at the Mettur dam and meteorological predictions have given them confidence that there may not be any water shortage problem during this season.

Reports about the sporadic rain in the catchment areas of Cauvery and other rivers in Karnataka in the last few days is also said to have boosted their confidence, sources said.