Chennai, July 31 : The Tamil Nadu government opened the Kallanai Dam and released the water in the delta districts of the state on Wednesday.





State Ministers K.N. Nehru, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, C. Meyyanathan and TRB Raaja along with collectors of the 11 delta districts of the state operated the sluice gates of the reservoir and released water into the Cauvery.



Initially, 1,500 cusecs of water were released into Cauvery; 1,000 cusecs into Vennaru and 400 cusecs into the Kollidam River.



The water released is expected to augment the irrigation of Kuruvai paddy which is already cultivated using ground water and to fill 925 system tanks spread over in 11 districts.



The ministers, officials and farmers gathered at Kallanai also showered flower petals, and paddy seeds on the water gushing out from the regulators.



Special poojas were held in the Anjaneyar temple located at the bed of Kollidam river, Adhi Vinayakar temple in the park and Karuppannasamy temple on the banks of Cauvery.



'The water will be used for cultivating 7.95 lakh acres of samba paddy besides supplementing irrigation of Kuruvai paddy crop already cultivated using groundwater,' said Municipal Administration Minister K.N. Nehru.



Cauvery water was released from Mettur on July 28th, instead of the customary date of June 12, due to the non-availability of adequate water in Mettur.



/IANS