Tamil Nadu seeks 18 tmc ft more from Cauvery

Tamil Nadu seeks 18 tmc ft more from Cauvery

Affidavit says minimum additional requirement of water for Samba crop is 20 tmc ft

In a supplementary affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday, Tamil Nadu has sought release of at least 18 tmc of water by Karnataka in addition to the 12 tmc directed by the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC).

In his affidavit, Dr M Saikumar, secretary to TN government, Public Works Department, said out of about 15 lakh acres covered with a single samba paddy crop, the farmers had given up further activities in almost 3 lakh acres for want of water. Of the remaining 12 lakh acres, water was required in about 9 lakh acres for one irrigation and in about 3 lakh acres for two irrigations beyond December this year.

The minimum requirement of water was to the extent of 20 tmc ft apart from the quantity of 12 tmc ft ordered by the CMC for December this year, in its meeting held on December 7 this year, he said.

Karnataka, which was mandated to release 10,000 cusecs from December 5 this year onwards, started the release only at 10 pm on December 6 this year and stopped it on December 9, 2012, the affidavit said.

In its meeting, the CMC, however, failed to consider the requirements of the standing crops in TN and contrary to its own assessment recommended release of only 12 tmc ft for December this year, TN felt.

The Karnataka chief minister was reported to have stated that the state was not in a position to release water to TN; it had also been reported in the media that Karnataka had filed a review petition before the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) against the CMC orders, it said.

The CMC, instead of directing Karnataka to make good the shortfall due to TN as per the method of pro rata sharing, had directed it to release only 12 tmc ft for December this year, including the releases as per the interim order, the affidavit said.

The water level in Mettur reservoir was only 10.30 tmc ft (effective) on December 14, it added.

In the present distress year, Karnataka had already drawn 114.4 tmc ft as on December 14, and it was making a demand for further waters, the affidavit said, and added, TN had suffered the most and had lost kuruvai crop and was on the verge of losing samba crop as well.

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