SALEM: “Give us at least 100 tmc ft this season” was one of the demands of farmer organisations that made submissions before the high-level technical committee constituted by the Supreme Court to assess the situation in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The team led by Central Water Commission Chairman G S Jha visited the Mettur dam on Sunday, after a two-day inspection in the Cauvery basin of Karnataka.
The team held meetings in Salem with Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy, Principal Secretary for PWD S K Prabakar, Agricultural Production Commissioner and Principal Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi and Salem Collector V Sampath.
The officials made a presentation on the overall water situation in Tamil Nadu and on the area under cultivation in need of urgent water before the central team. Later, the team inspected the dam and took note of vital data — the water level was at 70.88 ft as against the full reservoir level of 120 ft and the dam held 33.46 tmc ft of water as against its full capacity of 93.5 tmc ft — and the number of days the current storage could be utilised, the inflow-outflow trends during the current irrigation season, deficit and also dead storage details. Officials explained that the dam was opened for Cauvery delta irrigation on September 20 as against the customary date of June 12 due to low storage and poor inflow.
“As per the Cauvery tribunal’s final award, there is a deficit of 5 tmc ft, which Tamil Nadu has to receive from Karnataka from June till date. This is vital for the Cauvery delta farmers for continuing with their cultivation till the monsoon set in,” said TN Cauvery Technical Committee Chairman R Subramanian.
Jha said the data collected from the visits to both the States would be analysed carefully and the report submitted to the Supreme Court by October 17. But in its submission, the Tamil Nadu Organising Committee of Farmers Associations said at least 100 tmc ft of water from Karnataka would be needed to save about 10 lakh acres of Samba crops under direct sowing.
P R Pandiyan of the organising committee told reporters that the Tamil Nadu official view that if Karnataka supplied the current deficit, the delta farmers could manage till the northeast monsoon set in was a wrong perception.
Mettur East and West Bank Canal Irrigation Farmers Association president A Mohan, in his submission, stated that the 45,000 acres fed by two canals in Salem, Namakkal and Erode districts were yet to get water. He said in the last 10 years, after the tribunal gave its interim award, Karnataka had reduced water release to Tamil Nadu. He also called for setting up of Cauvery Management Board.