MADURAI: State government on Monday filed a counter affidavit, denying the allegations against the implementation of Mettur Surplus Water Scheme, and stated that the scheme “would not affect the riparian right of delta farmers”. Earlier, Tamizhaga Cauvery Vivasayigal Sangam General Secretary PR Pandian had filed a Public Interest Litigation in this regard before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court.
The Special Secretary for Public Works Department (PWD) submitted that the four taluks – Edappadi, Sankari, Omalur and Mettur – covered under the scheme are minor irrigation ayacuts and not new ones, as claimed by the litigant.
The official added that the final allocation made by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) was based on the principles of just and equitable apportionment, and has nothing to do with the pre-existing riparian rights of the farmers. Moreover, only the surplus is proposed to be diverted to the four taluks, he said.
The official refuted Pandian’s allegations that there was no surplus in the reservoir. “Even as per the historical data from 1936 to 2019, the Mettur Reservoir had witnessed a surplus of over 555 mcft in 43 of the 84 years," he said, and prayed the court to dismiss the litigation.
Pandian, in his litigation, had alleged that the 4,238 acres in the taluks do not come under the Mettur irrigation project. He claimed that implementing the scheme would violate the order of the Supreme Court in the Cauvery issue. Further, he claimed, the government neither consulted the delta farmers nor the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) before introducing the scheme last November.