Even as a resolution continued to elude the Cauvery water sharing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, PMK founder S. Ramadoss on Wednesday issued a call for Tamil Nadu to be declared as drought-hit.
Stating that the prospect of Cauvery water reaching Tamil Nadu and being put to use for samba cultivation was fading with each passing day, he claimed that around 16 lakh hectares of agricultural land in the Cauvery delta would be adversely affected. “Districts including Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagai, Ariyalur, Tiruchi and Cuddalore alone have 14.47 lakh hectares of land where samba is cultivated. While farmers depend on groundwater for around 2 lakh hectares, the remaining 12 lakh hectares require the supply of Cauvery water until January. This doesn’t seem possible now,” said Dr. Ramadoss. He also demanded that compensation worth Rs. 25,000 per acre be paid to the affected farmers, besides a one-time payment of Rs. 25,000 to landless labourers.
Stating that the water level at the Mettur dam was sliding fast and that 20,000 cusecs of Cauvery water needed to be released by Karnataka to fulfil the requirements of the low lying delta regions, Dr. Ramadoss said the northeast monsoon is also expected to make a late landfall this time. “The situation is such that the water from the Mettur dam can’t be released until the monsoon starts,” he said.
Underscoring the “dire situation”, he demanded that the Cauvery delta region and other regions except Chennai be declared ‘drought-hit’.
‘Prospect of Cauvery water reaching TN and being put to use for samba cultivation is fading each day’
