The Hindu : Promised water from PAP not sufficient

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 01, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Promised water from PAP not sufficient

By Our Staff Reporter

PALAKKAD, JAN. 31. The officials of the Water Resources Department here said that the Tamil Nadu Government's decision to release just 200 million cubic feet of water from Aliyar basin for irrigation in Chitturpuzha scheme up to February 15 will not save the standing second crop of paddy.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, J. Jayalalithaa, in a fax message to the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, on Friday informed that 200 million cubic feet of water would be released from the Aliyar basin (under the Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) Agreement) till February 15 for irrigation in Chittur taluk.

To save the standing second crop, water has to be released till February 15, which requires a minimum 650 million cubic feet of water. For the last two weeks, Tamil Nadu had released only 100 mc ft of water as against the requirement of 500 mc ft water.

This had resulted in the destruction of the crop in the tail-end areas of the project. Thus the promised water will not reach the major portions of the project area, the officials said.

This situation will also lead to a fight between the farmers and the department officials. The officials will be in a dilemma where the water had to be released since it can cover only a small portion of the 20,000 hectares of paddy cultivation. The Chittur taluk observed a hartal on Saturday in protest against the failure of the Kerala Government to get its due share of water from Tamil Nadu under the PAP project.

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