The much-publicised desilting operation in the three Cauvery Delta districts, which commenced in mid-May on a war-footing, has come as a boon in many ways for the paddy and sugarcane cultivators in the region, according to several farmers in a chat with The Indian Express correspondent. The desilting, deweeding and removal of encroachments in the river channels have restored the irrigation canals to their original width of 20 meters approximately, thus reducing the possibility of floods during monsoon.

The bulldozing and excavation at the canals and rivers have levelled up the surface which is being seen by the farmers as a ``majortransformation'' since this would ensure that the benefit of irrigation will reach agricultural lands in tail-end areas unlike in the past. There would be no more water stagnation or hindrance in the flow of water, they feel.

Says 62-year old T Kaliamurthy, who has been tilling fields adjoining the Thuriyar in Veeramangudi village, Thanjavur, for over 40 years, ``in recent years, we suffered heavy losses as our fields were inundated due to overflowing water from the river during rains but now we can look forward to make good the loss.'' Happiness writ large on his face, he adds ``moreover, our village will not be submerged in water. Instead, our paddy crops will be irrigated properly''.

Lakshmi, a farm hand in Mangainallur village, Nagapattinam, is happy, too, but on a different score. She hopefully will not be rendered jobless during the forthcoming monsoon season unlike in the past when inundation of fields forced her to go without work and daily wages. ``If something could be done to increase myearnings, my happiness will be doubled'', she says.

Perhaps, it was these contended feelings of the farmers in the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu that was reflected in the rousing reception given to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi by the villagers during his two-day whirlwind tour of the three districts which were yearning for over a decade for a systematised irrigation system in the rivers and canals, inter-twined across a stretch of 14,000 kilometres, in the Cauvery Delta.

On both days, farmers lined up on either side of the road used by the Chief Minister's convoy and welcomed him with folded hands. At almost all the desilting sites visited by him, people turned up in large numbers and went ecstatic as he waved to them, though in some places the reception was dominated by partymen.

However, farmers were unhappy on one count. Sides of the some of the waterways and irrigation canals have not been concretised leading to the apprehension that the soil deposits will be washed away during rains. ``This will againlead to heavy silting in the canal and hinder water flow'', says Mohan of Devamkudi village, Thanjavur. The concrete sides had probably given away due to lack of maintenance or demolished during the bulldozing.