ERODE : Farmers benefiting from the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) have planned to go to court to protect their water-sharing rights in Lower Bhavani Dam (LBD) in Erode district.
According to sources, 2,07,000 acres of farmland in the Erode, Tiruppur, and Karur districts are irrigated by the LBP canal which depends on the Lower Bhavani Dam (LBD). Currently, water is being provided to 1,03,500 acres of farmlands in the second phase from January 7.
Water should be provided till May 1 at four intervals. Already, water has been provided for three wettings. However, for the fourth, water should be provided from March 25 to April 6. After that water should be provided for the fifth wetting from April 18 to May 1.
In this context, the Water Resources Department (WRD) has informed farmers that it is not possible to provide water for the fifth wetting considering the availability of water in the LBD. This has upset farmers and they have complained that the water shortage is due to wrong management policies of the WRD.
R Eswaramoorthy, secretary of Lower Bhavani Farmers Federation said, “As per the verdict of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in 2007, after ensuring adequate water for the second phase of LBP irrigation, only the remaining water should be provided to old ayacut irrigation. However, the WRD does not follow it. More water has been allocated for old ayacut irrigation. Because of this, there is a shortage of water for LBP irrigation. Hence, we should approach the court soon to protect our water-sharing rights.”
He added, “The dam had 6.5 tmcft of water as of Saturday. of this, 2.5 tmcft is for drinking water, 1.5 tmcft is for dead storage and 2 tmcft should be given for the fourth wetting of LBP irrigation. However, the officials say that the water cannot be fully provided for the fourth wetting. They also said that water for the fifth wetting cannot be provided completely. This will affect the farmers and their crops.”
Officials from the Erode WRD said, “Farmers urged us to get water from Kundah Hydro Electric Reservoir in Nilgiris. However, even there the water availability is less. Even then we can get only 75 tmcft. Therefore, the information on the lack of water was conveyed at a consultation meeting held with the farmers at our Chief Engineer’s office in Coimbatore on Friday evening. Our CE denied the allegation of farmers that water management is wrong. At this meeting, farmers were also requested to cooperate.”