CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has knocked on the doors of the Union government again for Cauvery water by pointing to the risk faced by thousands of acres of kuruvai paddy in the state due to Karnataka’s refusal to release the due share of water to Tamil Nadu on time.
The state has also urged the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to finalise the distress-sharing formula immediately for sharing the Cauvery waters among riparian states during the distress period.
Tamil Nadu water resources minister Duraimurugan, who met Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendrasingh Shekhawat in New Delhi on Thursday, handed over a letter written by Chief Minister M K Stalin regarding the issue. Duraimurugan also requested Shekhawat to instruct the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to direct Karnataka to release the deficit Cauvery water for June and July months immediately.
“From June 1 to July 17, Karnataka should have released 26.32 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu but only 3.78 tmcft has been released. There is a shortfall of 22.54 tmcft of water. Even the 3.78 tmcft realised at Biligundulu is from the flows from the uncontrolled intermediate catchment areas below the KRS and Kabini reservoirs,” the chief minister had pointed out in his letter.
Holding talks for Cauvery again will be a blunder: Minister
Stalin had also pointed out that the standing kuruvai crop can be saved only if Karnataka releases water immediately and that the union minister should instruct CWMA to issue directions to Karnataka to abide by the monthly schedule prescribed by the SC and make good the shortfall due for TN. TN had taken up this issue already with the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee in its meetings and with the Cauvery Water Management Authority vide a letter dated July 3.
The authority, in its reply on July 4, advised Karnataka to ensure the flows at Biligundulu as per the Final Award of the CWDT as modified by the SC. Even after the CWMA’s intervention, Karnataka has not taken steps to adhere to the monthly schedule prescribed by the SC. In New Delhi, responding to a question as to why TN cannot hold talks with Karnataka, Duraimurugan said, “Holding talks for Cauvery water again will be a blunder.
Such a move at this stage will not augur well for Tamil Nadu. Since the issue could not be resolved for several years, Tamil Nadu asked for setting up the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. We can’t go for talks now since if we move the court on this issue, Karnataka will tell the court that talks are going on. So, holding talks will be a wrong move.”
Water resources secretary Sandeep Saxena said how water should be shared between states during distress period is the work of the CWMA but the authority has not finalised the formula for a long time. This should be done immediately, Saxena said. The Jal Sakthi minister has assured us that he will be directing the CWMA to do its duty for the release of Tamil Nadu’s share of water in the Cauvery and to develop a distress-sharing formula to share the Cauvery water among riparian states, Saxena said.
Asked about the contention of Karnataka that they don’t have enough water to share, he said “We don’t say the water is overflowing there. But we are asking Karnataka to share the available water. “ The CM, in his letter, had pointed out that kuruvai is a crucial crop for farmers of the Cauvery Delta and to facilitate the cultivation of the crop on time, the Mettur reservoir was opened this year on June 12. “Though the onset of the southwest monsoon was delayed, it picked up pace in July.
However, Karnataka has not released any water to us from the two scheduled reservoirs. As a result, the storage in Mettur reservoir is dwindling fast and the current storage can sustain irrigation only for about 20 days,” he said. Since southwest monsoon rainfall is less in Tamil Nadu, kuruvai paddy irrigation depends only on water from the Mettur reservoir, which in turn depends on releases from Karnataka.
Although 12,000 cusecs of water were released from Mettur initially, as needed per day for the crop, it has been brought down to 10,000 cusecs now. “Thus, we have been taking all efforts to manage the crisis with judicious water management. But the demand-supply gap is very significant and it can be met only by releases from Karnataka,” Stalin said.
Request to meet SL prez
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‘CWMA must finalise distress-share formula’
“How water should be shared during distress period is the work of CWMA but the authority has not finalised the formula yet. This should be done immediately,” water resources secretary Sandeep Saxena said.