Despondent farmers seek govt’s word on kuruvai
THANJAVUR, TIRUCHY: Farmers have urged the State government to declare Thanjavur district as drought-hit saying there has been no rain and also the prospects for release of water from Mettur on June 12 appeared bleak.
According to official data, the district should have recorded normal rainfall of 96.5 mm during March 1 to May 27, 2019. But only an average rainfall of 5.1 mm has been recorded so far. The rain was recorded only in a few places.
A K Ravichander, president of Cauvery delta farmers association, on Monday submitted a petition to district collector stating prospects of opening Mettur dam appeared bleak, and requested to the government to declare the district as drought hit and start drought alleviation measures.
The government should advise farmers, whether they could start preparing for kuruvai by raising nurseries by getting water from those who have bore wells or go in for direct sowing in the later stage or let the fields fallow, Ravichander said and appealed to the State government to impress upon the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to order release of water from Karnataka reservoirs.
V Jeevakumar, district Vice-President of farm workers union pointed out that the CWMA meeting was being held on Tuesday after a long gap six months. The meeting should be held periodically from June to October, once in ten days as per the court order to assess the position of water availability and to order the release as per the final orders of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) and the final orders of Supreme court. He also said the Godavari-Cauvery link could be part of long term planning but the farmers now urgently need Cauvery water and the State government should concentrate on getting the same.
‘Ensure monthly share’
Addressing media in Tiruchy, the Tamil Manila Congress Farmers’ Wing President Puliyur Nagarajan said the government should ensure that the monthly share of water was released from Cauvery by Karnataka. Also, he said CWMA should act autonomously, than acting on directions of Karnataka government.
According to the allotment in June 9.19 TMC was to be released for Tamil Nadu. Speaking about this, Puliyur Nagarajan said, “It is already impossible to make kuruvai cultivation with no water. It has been the same in the past seven years as water has not been released properly and also because of unavailability. If at least the allotted water was released then the acute scarcity for drinking water at places in as many as 25 districts could be quenched.”
According to Supreme Court order in June 9.19 TMC, in July 31.24 TMC, August 45.95 TMC, September 36.76 TMC, October 22.22 TMC, November 13.78 TMC, December 7.35 TMC, January 2.76 TMC and February to May 2.50 TMC each month were to be released.
In addition to this, the farmers’ leader welcomed the announcement of linking of rivers Krishna and Godavari and asked that the works should be started immediately.
TN to press for water release
Chennai: According to official sources, Tamil Nadu will seek among other things release of water from June 1 onwards at the meeting of Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on Tuesday