Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Hope and fear in delta districts

By V. Jayanth

THANJAVUR Dec. 30. A drive round the delta districts raises both hope and fear - hope over the striking green, all over, of the nearly 100-day-old Samba crop and fear at the thought of having to save it. Now that the Government has bowed to pressure from farmers' associations and political parties and is releasing 12,000 cusecs of water daily from an already-depleted Mettur dam, the question is whether the farmers can sustain the crop for another 40-odd days and harvest it.

Right from the Karaikal region in neighbouring Pondicherry to Thanjavur and parts of Tiruchi district, a good proportion of the cultivable area has come under paddy. But only those who went for direct sowing in August-September, who saw the early phases through, are now entering the last lap, as it were, to harvest the crop. "We need at least two more good wettings in January before we can harvest paddy in early February. We definitely need a couple of good showers to see us through this season and utilise what is left of the storage in Mettur", explains Krishnamurthy, a farmer in the Tiruvaiyaru belt.

Perhaps the most useful strategy to be adopted by the farmers, with the help of Public Works Department authorities, in some areas, is deployment of sluices and makeshift blocks to hold back released water. This exercise is visible in Karaikal to a good degree and in some parts of Thanjavur district, where the sluices have been downed to store water. It has not only prevented wastage but also helped to recharge a badly depleted groundwater table. But farmers admit that this strategy can lead to problems in downstream areas and unless there is a consensus on its use, it can create a fresh controversy.

There is not enough water for far-flung areas of the delta region or adequate discharge to reach the tail-end areas. The focus must therefore be on the central parts of what has been Tamil Nadu's rice bowl. The authorities here are confident of saving the crop in at least 50 per cent of the 12-lakh hectares. But that requires careful and prudent water management.

Though some of the farmers' associations launched an agitation demanding enhanced water release from Mettur earlier this month, others are worried that the Government has "wasted precious water" when the increased supply was not so essential. The sad part of the evolving crisis in the delta seems to be the apparent divisions among various farmers' groups and associations — some on political lines and others based on district boundaries. It now seems impossible to expect the farmers in this region to speak with one voice.

Even the ongoing dialogue between farmers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu (mainly from the delta) has run into rough weather. While Karnataka and the Centre have welcomed the attempt and expressed the hope that the farmers could help to create a congenial climate for water sharing between the two neighbouring States, a section of farmers here has opposed dialogue. According to the Delta Farmers Welfare Association Secretary, S. Ranganathan, the exchange of visits by farmers has certainly helped them understand each other's problems. "Unless the farmers agree and see reason, no Government can implement either the Tribunal's order or the Cauvery River Authority's order. We have tried to bridge this gap through the dialogue that was facilitated and organised by the Madras Institute of Development Studies. Our association has been non-political and we would like to keep it that way."

Though the farmers are seething with anger at Karnataka's refusal to release any water, they are equally upset at the Centre and the Prime Minister not taking steps to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority to sort out this crisis and get some water released for Tamil Nadu this samba season.

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