Tamil Nadu   

Central team's visit kindles hopes in farmers

By S.Vydhianathan

CHENNAI, JUNE 9. With a Central team coming tomorrow to Tamil Nadu for a firsthand assessment of the level in the Mettur reservoir, delta farmers hope that the Centre will come to their rescue in harvesting at least one crop in the current irrigation year.

The decision to send the team was taken after an all-party delegation from Tamil Nadu called on the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi yesterday, urging him to intervene and get Karnataka release Cauvery water for Tamil Nadu as per the interim order of the Cauvery Waters Disputes Tribunal.

The current storage of about 10 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) in the reservoir against its capacity of 94 tmcft is not sufficient to meet Kuruvai irrigation needs. At least 60 tmcft is required to complete the farming operations from sowing to harvest.

Water managers see little possibility of any substantial improvement in the storage unless Karnataka releases water.

According to information here, the combined storage of the four dams in Karnataka-Harangi, Hemavathi, Krishnaraja Sagar and Kabini - is 24 tmcft as against their total capacity of 114.5 tmcft. Even during the years the reservoirs had considerable storage, Karnataka failed to release water.

So the possibility of its releasing water with the current storage will be bleak unless the Centre exerts pressure on that State.

It is felt that the Centre could prevail on Karnataka to accept the distress-sharing formula evolved by the Cauvery Monitoring Committee, headed by the then Water Resources Secretary, A.K. Goswamy, based on data for last 29 years.

Similarly, the water managers felt that the Tamil Nadu Government, instead of taking any hasty decision on opening the reservoir, should build sufficient storage to provide water at least for the long-term samba crop.

Farm managers say that farmers, instead of going in for kuruvai paddy, should cultivate pulses, millets and gingili as short-term crops. The recent rain in the districts improved soil moisture, which is enough for the alternative crops. After harvesting these crops, the farmers should start samba operations in October if adequate storage is built in the reservoir.

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