The total capital outlay on the whole scheme up to the end of 1904-05 is returned as Rs. 1,36,93,000, the gross receipts of that year at Rs. 35,58,000, the annual working expenses at Rs. 9,10,000, and the net revenue at Rs. 26,48,000 or 19.34 Per cent, on the capital outlay. The benefits and increase of wealth which the project has conferred upon the people of the district are incalculable. The misery it has prevented may be gauged from a perusal of Chapter VIII below, where the ghastly sufferings from famine which the people endured before its construction are faintly indicated.
Mr. Walch considers that 'it may be assumed that there is land available for an extension of irrigation of at least 100,000 acres; exclusive of the considerable areas in the Coringa and Pólaram islands, to both of which anicut water could be taken without any very serious engineering difficulty; to the former by a tunnel or articulated pipes and to the latter by an aqueduct across the Vriddha Gautami.' Whether, however, sufficient water can be rendered available for any such extension is another matter. For some three months in every year vastly more water comes down the river than is required for the area at present irrigated, and this excess pours uselessly over the anicut and down to the sea. But in almost every season the period of superabundance is followed by one of scarcity, the water barely sufficing for the present area of wet crops. Either therefore the 'duty' of the water must be increased (no easy matter) or some method of storage must be resorted to. It has been suggested1[1] that reservoirs might perhaps be formed on the Saveri or one of its larger tributaries.
The administration of the irrigation works of the central and eastern deltas in this district involves the maintenance of a large establishment. An Executive Engineer and two Assistant Engineers are in charge of them exclusively, the rest of the district being administered by another Executive Engineer with an Assistant Engineer subordinate to him; and under their orders are the anicut superintendent and sub-overseers, who supervise the distribution of the water, the conservancy establishment in charge of the locks and river embankments, and the navigation establishment referred to in Chapter VII. A new division for the conservancy of the river bed is being organized.
The embankments give much trouble in times of high freshes, and the country is not yet adequately protected from the effects of abnormal floods. In 1886, 1892 and 1900 the
- ↑ 1 Mr. H. E. Clerk's Preliminary Report for the Irrigation Commission (1902), 3, 50.
