Salem: Water from Mettur Dam in Tamil Nadu was released on Tuesday morning for delta irrigation, as per orders from Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
State ministers Edapady Palanichamy P. Thankamani, Saroja, Karupannan along with Salem Collector Sampath were present at the function held to release the dam water.
According to the Supreme Court orders, Karnataka has to release 12,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu till Tuesday.
More than 5,000 cusecs of water will be released from Mettur Dam for delta irrigation on Tuesday and this will be raised upto 15,000 cusecs as per the need of delta farmers.
The water released from Mettur will first reach Upper Anaicatu Mukombu in Tiruchirapalli and from there to Grand Anaicutu Kallanai by weekend.
From Kallanai, water is being released for samba crops in delta districts of Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur.
This year release of water from Mettur has been considerably delayed due to lack of water in Cauvery.
Delta farmers hope that north east monsoon will start by third week of next month to save samba crops.
