The Hindu : Front Page : Kerala to get additional 0.4 tmcft water from PAP

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Saturday, Sep 26, 2009
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Kerala to get additional 0.4 tmcft water from PAP

Staff Reporter

Joint Board meet refers outstanding issue to governments

Palakkad: The 87th meeting of the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) Joint Water Regulatory Board was held at Udhagamandalam on Friday.

At the meeting, the Tamil Nadu side agreed to release an additional quantity of 0.4 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) water from the PAP for the Chitturpuzha irrigation scheme for the second crop paddy cultivation during this water year ending June next. This is in addition to the annual share of 7.25 tmcft water to Kerala for use in the Chitturpuzha scheme as per the PAP agreement.

The Tamil Nadu government also agreed to supply water to Kerala as per its intent for the current water year.

It would supply a total quantity of 6.6 tmcft of water to Kerala till January next year, officials of the Kerala delegation told over the phone from Udhagamandalam after the meeting.

But the Kerala side which demanded water till March next year for completing the second crop of paddy did not get an assurance from Tamil Nadu as it agreed to the supply of water only till January. If water is not released in February and March, the second crop cultivation would not be possible, the officials pointed out.

The meeting had also settled the water account of the last water year that ended in June this year, they said.

Outstanding issue

Special Correspondent writes from Udhagamandalam: The meeting decided to refer to the governments of Tamil Nadu and Kerala the outstanding issue relating to the shortfall in supply of water during 2007-2008 from the Parambikulam Group of reservoirs to Kerala.

Apart from this, the participants from both sides decided to go by the agreement which had come into force in 1958. It pertained to the sharing of the water of the rivers, Anamalayar, Sholayar, Parambikulam and Aliyar.

Pointing out that the discussions had been smooth, G. Panchanathan, Chief Engineer, PWD, Tamil Nadu; and P. Lathika, Chief Engineer, Inter-State Waters, Kerala, who headed the two delegations, said the meet dealt with the water-sharing issues pertaining to the period from July 2009 to June 2010.

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