THANJAVUR/TIRUVARUR: Farmers of the Cauvery delta belt on Monday beseeched the visiting high level technical team headed by G S Jha, the Chairman of Central Water commission (CWC) to release more water in Cauvery from Karnataka to save the wilting samba crops in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur districts.
The team constituted by the Union Water resources ministry to assess the ground realities in Cauvery basin following the Supreme Court order first visited the Cholagankudikadu village in Thanjavur district. They inspected a part of the 572 acres land where 29 - 47 days old paddy crops had already started wilting due to non-availability of water. The members also saw samples of earth with wilted crop brought from the adjoining villages.
The farmers gave their petitions to the chairman of the committee and explained their travails due to non-availability of water. V Jeevakumar, a representative of the farmers, summing up the demands said that in Thanjavur district out of the normal samba area of 3.30 lakh acres, cultivation has been taken up only in 76,600 acres. In this area, 71 % of crops have started withering, he pointed out. He also said the North East monsoon has turned out to be a mirage in the past years and cannot be depended. Hence release of water from Karnataka is paramount to save atleast a single crop of Samba.
Talking to media G S Jha, the chairman of the committee said their visit was part of the tour for assessment of the ground realities in the Cauvery basin. "I am taking care of the issues brought before me and will appropriately report to the Supreme Court", Jha added.
Later the team visited the Chokkanvur village where the direct sown paddy in around 635 acre was in withering state. Farmers told the team members that they have gone in for direct sowing hoping for rains but the rains have failed and water also did not flow in from the Cauvery system.
The team then visited the Perugavazhndan village in Tiruvarur district where the farmers poured out their grievances. Mannargudi S Ranganathan, the General Secretary of Cauvery Delta Farmers association and one of the original petitioners for Cauvery Tribunal made a detailed presentation to the committee. He pointed out that to save the standing crop till the onset of the monsoon, the delta needs an additional 25 TMC of water from Karnataka. "Even after monsoon is over, the Cauvery delta needs water from Karnataka for final wetting in the months of December to January", he added. He said that due to the introduction of turn system, ground water is not getting recharged. He charged the Karnataka Government for indirectly pushing the farmers of Cauvery delta to abandon the Kuruvai crop, which contributes to the food security.
"The deficiency shown by Karnataka is an artificial deficiency as they deplete the storage in their reservoirs during the summer season and do not carry over the water after the normal season", he pointed out. He also said Tamil Nadu has been acting in a disciplined manner by closing the Mettur dam on January 28. He hoped the technical committee would present the delta farmer's case for release of water.
At Nagapattinam, the team initially visited a farmland at Karunganni village of Keelaiyoor block where Samba cultivation has been taken up through direct sowing method. The block comprises of 1114 acres of farmland and relies on the Vellaiyaru and Cauvery Kondanar Milladi Channel. Due to the untimely release of Cauvery water and inadequate inflow in the Vennaru river which supplies water to Vellaiyaru and Cauvery Kondanar Milladi Channel, as much as 1002 acres of land have adopted direct sowing method and the remaining 112 acres have adopted transplantation method. According to the agriculture department officials, the total 1114 acres of land is under stress and around 864 farmers have been affected due to the non availability of Cauvery water.
As soon as the team arrived at the spot, few of the distressed prostrated themselves before Chairman Jha and pleaded him to duly communicate their woes to Supreme Court in his report on October 17. The farmers showed their partially germinated Samba crop (BPT-5204) to the team. Similarly, farmers representing various outfits including Cauvery Vivasayikal Nala Paathukaappu Sangam, DMK farmers wing, Tamil Nadu Cauvery Farmers Association , Farmers wing of CPI have submitted individual petitions to Jha and pleaded him for the immediate release of remaining Cauvery water Tamil Nadu is entitled from Karnataka.
On behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Nagapattinam, samples of affected, partially germinated and non-germinated paddy crops were collected from different villages such as Chinnathumboor, Palakurichi and Othathattai. However, the team did not examine it.
It might be noted the Supreme Court, hearing a petition by Tamil Nadu praying for release of Cauvery water as per the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) to save atleast a single samba crop, on October 4,2016 directed the Union Government to constitute a high level committee to assess the ground situation in the basin. The committee is to submit a report to the Supreme Court on October 17.
(With inputs from Aruvel)