Chennai, Jan 13 (PTI) The Tamil Nadu government todaysaid there was a "deficit" in realisation of its share ofCauvery water this year (2017-18) and urged the neighbouringKarnataka to release at least 15 tmcft of water to make up fora part of the shortfall.
In a letter to his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah,Chief Minister K Palaniswami said Tamil Nadu had received only111.647 tmcft as on January 9 at Biligundulu as against thedue of 179.871 tmcft, leaving a deficit of 68.224 tmcft.
As per the 2007 order of the Cauvery Water DisputesTribunal, Tamil Nadu has to receive 192 tmcft (thousandmillion cubic feet) of water every year as its share from theCauvery river.
Palaniswami said the storage in Mettur reservoir in Salemdistrict, which caters to the Cauvery delta region, as onJanuary 12 was a "meagre" 21.27 tmcft even as the utilisablestorage there was 16.27 tmcft.
This was "grossly inadequate" to meet the irrigationneeds of standing crops and drinking water needs during summermonths, he said.
The AIADMK leader said the crop season in Karnataka wasalready over and that its gross storage in four majorreservoirs in Cauvery basin stood at about 49.82 tmcft as onJanuary 12.
"After reserving the minimum needs of drinking watersupply and perennial crops, Karnataka can release at least15 tmcft to Tamil Nadu to make up a part of the shortfall," hesaid.
This water is required to meet the crucial needs of thestanding crops in the Cauvery delta, the Tamil Nadu chiefminister asserted.
He also urged Siddaramaiah to instruct the officersconcerned to release 7 tmcft of water immediately and thebalance within a fortnight from the existing storage forsaving the standing crops.
This should be done taking into consideration the plightof a large number of farmers of the delta who depend on thesuccess of their crop to meet their livelihood, he said.
Extending 'Makara Sankaranthi' greetings to Siddaramiahand to the people of Karnataka, Palaniswami said that in this'irrigation year' (2017-18), Mettur reservoir could be openedonly on October 2, 2017 as against the normal date of June 12.
Though the Samba crop cultivation commenced soon afterand the rainfall due to the north east monsoon was helpful inthe beginning, its intensity became heavy and "destructive" byOctober end last year, he said.
"The young crop could not withstand the onslaught of suchrainfall and got damaged to a considerable extent. The farmersof the Cauvery delta had to replant the crop, as a result ofwhich the crop period got extended".
These standing crops need irrigation in the criticalstage of crop growth maturity, namely, "milky and dough"stage, for which irrigation has to be extended beyond January2018, he said.
"At this instance, I would like to point out that thefarmers of Cauvery delta lost their crop last year, 2016-17,due to deficit inflows into Mettur reservoir," Palaniswamisaid.
The Supreme Court has recently indicated that it woulddeliver within a month its verdict on the decades old Cauverydispute between the riparian states of Tamil Nadu andKarnataka, saying enough confusion had been created in thematter for over two decades. PTI SA BNSRY.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.