The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Lessons from the Cauvery spate

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 26, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Lessons from the Cauvery spate

V. Jayanth

Officials, ryots in Cauvery basin offer suggestions

PROBLEM OF PLENTY: Flooded apartments at Chinthamani in Tiruchi. — Photo: M. Moorthy

CHENNAI: After four years, delta farmers are raising a samba crop. But perhaps nearly after a decade, the Cauvery is in spate.

During the past four years, the Tamil Nadu Government kept urging the Centre to get Karnataka to release its legitimate share of Cauvery water. It appealed to Karnataka to honour the interim award of the Cauvery Waters Dispute Tribunal. But the upper riparian State would not heed the call. And now, Karnataka is just letting all its floodwater into Tamil Nadu — the inflow crossing 2.25 lakh cusecs on Sunday/Monday — as it cannot hold any more water. As a result, most towns and villages along the Cauvery have been inundated.

Just as the successive droughts taught Tamil Nadu and its farmers many a lesson, this year's floods and the fact that the Mettur reservoir has surplused thrice and continues to release water have their own lessons too. Though the Public Works Department (PWD) authorities are trying their very best to channel the Cauvery floods into as many canals and irrigation outlets as possible, the embankments have breached at several points. The lakes and tanks fed by the system are brimful and overflowing in most places. Highways and roads have been torn asunder in the fury of the floodwaters, especially in Dharmapuri, Salem and Erode districts. Whole villages have been evacuated and people in danger zones moved to safer areas. The district administration in all areas along the Cauvery are on alert and the situation is being closely and constantly monitored at the Secretariat and by the Chief Minister.

Senior officials who served in those areas and the farmers in the Cauvery basin districts offer a few suggestions to minimise the calamity. "Every town and district has a set plan for monsoon and flood preparedness. Unfortunately, we do go through the motions, hold meetings, and of course indulge in a lot of fire fighting in a crisis situation. We have mastered crisis management now, especially after the tsunami. But prevention is another matter altogether," explains a senior official, who has served in Tiruchi and Thanjavur districts.

Echoing the same sentiment, delta farmers say maintenance and repair works on riverbanks, canals, lakes, tanks and reservoirs leave a lot to be desired. "Though the PWD and Irrigation authorities have taken up some major repair and maramathu works in some areas, especially under a World Bank scheme, much more needs to be done. We need substantial desilting work along the Cauvery system ahead of the crop season. We need to strengthen the embankment regularly and crack down on encroachments on the riverbanks and low-lying areas," says a Thanjavur farmer. The ravaging of the Cauvery by the "sand mafia" in many districts has also affected the flow pattern.

In the towns, the municipalities have to take charge of the underground or open sewer systems and the `katcha' storm water drainage system. Puddles and flooding along the roads and in low-lying areas must be avoided.

As much of agricultural land along the Cauvery and its system has been converted into housing plots, it gets easily inundated. There needs to be a more careful scrutiny at the panchayat and municipal levels of housing schemes and conversion of farm land into plots.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu