COIMBATORE: Farmers from the Vellakovil-Kangayam tail-end areas called off their protest on Saturday night after officials assured them that the level of water being released from the Thirumoorthy dam into the Vellakovil branch canal would be raised from 4.4 feet to 4.7 feet within two days to improve water flow to the tail-end areas.The farmers launched the protest on Saturday morning after water released from the Thirumoorthy dam four days ago failed to reach the tail-end areas. Officials assured them that the water level at the canal’s zero point would be raised from 4.4 feet to 4.7 feet.The farmers called off the protest after police, Kangayam tahsildar Kathirvel and water resources department officials, including Udumalpet division executive engineer Prabhakar, Kangayam assistant executive engineer Balasubramaniam and junior engineers held talks with them.The protest was led by PAP Vellakovil Branch Canal (Kangayam–Vellakovil) Water Conservation Association. Farmers said water meant for the branch canal command area of about 48,000 acres, divided into four zones, was not reaching the tail-end reliably despite official assurances and reported availability in PAP reservoirs.P Jegadeeshwaran, treasurer of the association, said the Vellakovil–Kangayam reach constitutes about one-eighth of the ayacut irrigated from Thirumoorthy dam, but the last-mile supply remained “chronically incomplete”. “Only around 10,500 acres receive water; about 1,500 acres are consistently left out,” he said, adding that WRD officials had cited theft and unaccounted losses along the canal system.Association president P Velusamy said the Tirupur in-charge minister K R Arunraj and the district administration had earlier assured an additional 10 cusecs of water, but the promised quantity had not materialised. He claimed that in previous years, even during severe drought, water reached their area within about 30 hours, whereas this time it had not arrived even after nearly 70 hours though there was moisture in the canal bed.
